A Maverick in the Black Hole
by Shirae Natrice
Summary: AU. six years after AW2 a new CO joins the Black Hole Army, just as a civil war breaks out. Can Maverick Brande keep his identity a secret from his lover lash or will his love for her change him? violence, occasional strong language and suggestive content
1. Chapter 1

I do not own AW, but i do own all the OCs (and i must say, the OCs rock!)

Book 1: Hurricane of Turmoil

CHAP 1

Maverick rolled out of bed, careful not to wake Lash. He pulled on his red long sleeve and black leather vest with the broken buttons; and tightened his belt around his black jeans. He ran a hand thru his platinum hair. He left the tent, and walked to the mess hall. He stopped as some of the men looked at him and smirked. "What are you looking at soldier?" he asked the nearest one.

"Nothing sir, just wondering what you did last night in Commander Lash's tent."

"You wanna know what happened?"

"Are you serious, commander?"

"Sure!" he grabbed the soldier by the neck and knocked his feet out from under him. He put his trusty Uzi's barrel into the soldier's mouth and emptied his clip. The soldier's friends watched in horror, making a mental note to stay on the new CO's good side. The bullet-ridden body fell to the ground, bleeding everywhere.

"I know there's nothing like the smell of blood in the morning, baby." Lash appeared behind Maverick, "but did you have to kill him?" she pecked him on the cheek.

Maverick turned to face Lash, "he deserved it."

"Yes, but it's not like you to kill your own men before 9:30." She looked right into his deep blue eyes

"But its 9:29…" he grinned at her.

"You're hopeless… Besides, I have to check the newest Intel on the Silver Hurricane resistance cell" She smirked and turned to walk away.

He gave her a quick pinch as she walked out of the Mess. She turned and winked as she reached the door.

"Damn, sir. You are the luckiest man here." One of the other soldiers said from across the hall. A single bullet hit directly between his eyes.

"9:30!!"

CHAP 2

Maverick left the camp, and made sure nobody followed him. He walked about a mile off, until he was sure he was clear of the transmission monitoring from the base.

He pulled out a small radio, "Silver Command, come in, this is Raphael."

"This is Silver Command, Commander Jido here," Maverick's twin appeared on the small video screen. "So, Raphael, are you that new 'Maverick' CO for Black Hole?"

"Yeah, that's the name I'm using. Nothing important to report."

"Bullshit! We know all about you and that Lash character! Spill it bro!"

"Hey, watch it, I used an entire clip in a soldier who asked me the same question, and he was more polite…"

They both burst out laughing. "Alright, Raph…your orders are to report in with something important next time."

"Hey! Don't forget, Silver Hurricane is MY army, not yours. We will free the people of Black Hole from the evil hold of its commanders; even Lash if the need be…"

"Alright, I know that. I'm just messing with you. Good hunting." The feed cut.

_"…even Lash if the need be…" _the words he spoke echoed in his head; something about them stung, and it stung deep. "Am I… in _love _with her…" he thought.

"Commander Maverick! Come in!"

"Yes soldier, what is it?"

"General Hawke is calling all the CO's together. He says it's Priority One."

"10-4. I'll be there in about ten minutes. Over and out!"

He took off at a sprint.

CHAP 3

Maverick came flying into the camp. He jumped into the driver's seat of the jeep Lash was waiting in and floored it.

"You're late baby." Lash teased him.

"Sorry, just surveying the terrain."

"You mean going on a nature hike," she giggled

"Yeah, something like that."

"Oh, you…you dork!"

Maverick reached over and began to tickle her ribs, "dork am I?"

"Hey!" she talked between giggles, "NO FAIR! I can't tickle the driver!"

The drive continued like this for about half an hour. They did apply more of a professional façade as they approached the HQ. They stopped at the gate and checked in with the guard; who directed them to the meeting hall.

They walked in, everyone was already there. Hawke looked at them, "we expected you 20 minutes ago. Did the two of you stop enjoy the scenery or something?"

"Sorry sir!" they both said and snapped to attention in tandem.

"Very well, we'll speak later."

"Sir, isn't the Bolt Guard coming?" Maverick looked around, surprised that only Flak, Hawke, and Adder were the only others there. "I thought this meeting was for ALL COs."

"All of the important ones…" Adder said, "…so why is the new kid here?"

"Watch you mouth serpent!" Maverick glared, "or I'm gonna have fire roasted snake for dinner."

"Is that a challenge whelp?" Adder's eyes narrowed and he walked right up to Maverick.

"Do you wanna test it?" Maverick began to reach for his Uzi he kept hidden under his vest.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Hawke slammed his fist on the table. "Or I will be forced to separate you physically!"

Maverick and Adder continued glaring at each other, but moved back to their spots on opposite sides of the table.

"Now everyone be seated." Hawke began, "now, as we all know, the Silver Hurricane is a resistance cell formed within our own capitol. They claim to have three COs but, so far only two of them have taken to the battlefield. The third is known to be the founder, and overall commander of the whole resistance. All the info we have on these guys are in the folders in front of you. The names are, in order of command: Raphael, his brother Jido, and Beki."

At the mention of the last CO, Lash flinched. Maverick knew that Beki was Lash's older sister who had been disowned. Beki never went deeper into the reasons of said outcasting, and Maverick never would give himself away to Lash by mentioning the sister she 'never had'.

"We have a clear picture of the military power of the resistance. And it is a serious threat, if only because of the way these freedom fighters can infect those around them with hopes and dreams of a 'brighter future'."

Maverick knew that the soldiers in the resistance were better trained than even Kanbei's men. He knew that Beki and Jido could handle any attack. The one worry he had, was would he be ordered to fight them.

"Flak and Adder, I want you to handle the defensive, we have Intel that they are going to attack soon," Hawke ordered

Maverick checked his watch, 10:45. "In fifteen minutes, actually," he thought to himself.

"Lash and Maverick, you two are on offense. Flush those Silver bastards out of their holes, and run them down. Dismissed!"

Everyone saluted, Adder and Flak left. "You wanted to speak with us sir?" Lash asked

"Yes, I've heard some rumors that your relationship has gone beyond what our regulations allow."

"Sir with all do respect, the regulations state that 'a soldier and their _commanding officer_ are not allow to engage in any relationships, physical or otherwise'." Maverick perfectly quoted the rulebook. "Lash is no longer my CO. She is my superior officer, but not my commander."

"I see your point, but it also states that public displays of affection are forbidden, at least for COs. It is to ensure that the men keep a level of respect that you are their gods, love is a mortal sentiment."

"Sir, the men know we aren't gods, or in my case a goddess. But you have a valid point. If we don't flirt in front of the soldiers, our relationship is within the bounds of regulations, correct?"

"Yes Lash, you are correct."

"Was there anything else sir?"

"No, Maverick, you two are free to go. Good hunting."

"Thank you sir!" they both saluted Hawke and left.

CHAP 4

"You know Lash, that part about not flirting in front of the men," Maverick pointed out as they left HQ. "is gonna be a lot harder than it sounds."

"Oh, babe, you worry too much." Lash giggled, "think of it as a game."

"Sweetie, that may be your M O in every situation, but I'm not like that."

"I know babe, you're too uptight sometimes. You gotta loosen up, maybe some battle will…"

She was interrupted as the soldier on the other end of the radio yelled at them. It took a second before he talked slow enough to understand, "we're under attack by the Silver rebels! They came out of nowhere! They've already taken half the camp!"

The engine roared as Maverick floored the pedal. "I knew I would have to fight them as soon as I took this job," he thought. "And if I hold back, SHE will figure it out so fast I won't have time to think of an explanation. Sorry, Jido, Beki… we knew we'd have to fight… I hope you're ready for me."

There was smoke clearly visible a few miles down the road, the camp was on fire. They came up fast on the camp, and went straight thru to the side where the fight was. Maverick saw a troop of men in Silver Hurricane uniforms, and aimed straight for them. "Forgive me," he thought as the jeep plowed them down.

He grabbed his Uzi and jumped out; Lash followed suit and pulled out two Lugers from under her jacket. They ran up to a soldier, "where is the CP?" Lash yelled.

The man pointed at a tent about 200 yards away. And he turned back to face the oncoming enemy.

The two of them ran to the tent. "REPORT!" they both yelled at the same time.

A soldier had a map laid out on the table, "here's the known locations of the enemies." He circled them and labeled them according to units. "And here are our units." Circled and labeled those.

Maverick started, "well we obviously need to regroup and consolidate our fighting forces."

Lash continued, "Then we need to figure out where the main enemy force is."

Maverick, "then we need to inflict enough damage to have them hold back until we can get reinforcements."

"Hold back!? Don't you want to crush them?"

Maverick realized what had just happened and thought on his toes, "well, we don't want to lose too many units, and then they could kill us all."

"Hmmm…" Lash seemed to have trouble with the idea that Maverick was concerned for his men.

He realized what she was thinking, "it's not about the men, or even the honor of this army. I just don't want US to die."

Lash's face turned normal again, in fact she was smiling, "but, we do still get to kill people right?"

"You got it!" Maverick feigned excitement.

"Units regrouping Sirs!"

They both looked down at the map and studied the area. "Here!" they both pointed at a gully about a mile away.

"Put the tanks here." Lash marked a spot in the woods near the gully.

"And the artillery here," Maverick pointed at a ridge on the far side of the gully.

"NO! Put them here!" Lash stabbed the map with her pen.

"Why there? I see no strategic value there?"

"It makes more sense than where you want them!"

"No, if they are on that ridge, it serves 2 purposes; it draws attention away from the woods, and cuts off their supply line.

"Yeah, but leaves them totally open to attack."

"I thought you were our best strategist! DUH! That's the point! The enemy moves to attack them and the tanks run thru the weaker units and we pincer attack the stronger units sent to attack the artillery!"

"YOU ARE SO IGNORANT! YOU FREAKING IDIOT! I CAN'T BELIEVE I PUT YOU UP FOR COMMAND!"

"Um, Sirs?"

"WHAT!" they both looked like they were going to suck his veins dry if he said anything wrong.

"I honestly think that Maverick has a point."

"Oh! You're fucking dead!"

Lash moved to pistol whip him, but Maverick caught her in his arms and held her back. "I think you should leave, soldier. That goes for all of you, this could get violent. Wait outside."

"Yessir!" the soldiers ran out of the tent.

The two of them were alone, and Lash was flaming pissed. "Lash! Hey sweetie! HEY! LOOK AT ME!" he slapped her to bring her back to reality.

She gazed up at him, half ashamed, half angered. "Why did you have to show me up in front of the men like that?"

"I'm sorry sweetie, but I don't want to lose you. I want what's best for us. And the ridge is a better choice than in the middle of a field."

She kicked him in the shin but then just hugged him. She regained her composure and stepped to the opposite side of the map table. "You men can come back in!" she yelled.

They carried out the battle plan as Maverick had suggested, and the Silver rebels halted their advance when five of their MBTs were destroyed, and their mechanized infantry decimated. Later in the evening Flak's men began to arrive to help, and the Silver Hurricane forces were driven off.

CHAP 5

Despite the victory, Lash didn't talk to Maverick for the rest of the night; or the next day for that matter. She was in a depression that came out of nowhere, they had outwitted an enemy, and she would normally do something special, like steak and egg breakfast for the men; instead, she would just slump around the camp and barely eat.

Maverick got almost no sleep having to cover for her. His stress level made it a danger for a soldier to be within a grenade's throw of him, and he had a very good throwing arm. Every time he tried to talk to Lash, he got something thrown at him; with painful accuracy as he found out courtesy of a flying lamp.

Hawke was due to arrive in a week for a troop inspection. Everyone in the camp was aware of the mounting stress, especially Maverick. He knew that he had to get Lash back on her feet before then. He didn't want to think about what would happen if he didn't. There was no time to let her steam this one out; he knew what he had to do.

Maverick went to Lash's tent, and announced his presence. She yelled, "go away!" and something impacted the heavy canvas flap acting as a door. Maverick took a deep breath and walked in.

The tent was in an appalling condition, clothing everywhere, books and papers randomly scattered. Maverick quickly ducked his head to dodge a flying desk chair. And he brought his hand up to catch Lash's fist. He forced her back until she tripped over her bed. He held her down until she stopped struggling and relaxed. "So, what's this cop out about sweetie? I'm really worried, and believe it or not, so are the men."

Lash mumbled a string of barely audible words, and out of them "Beki" was the only one that Maverick could decipher. He had to tread very carefully here. He could not let Lash know he knew anything about Beki. "Beki... are you talking about the girl Silver Rebel CO?"

"Yes…" Lash was still barely talking out loud

"What about her? If it was her behind the attack… well, it's not the first time you nearly lost a battle."

Wrong way to say that… Maverick felt like a railroad spike was driven into his skull as Lash gave him a brutal headbutt. He felt a small amount of blood trickle down his face, and he knew his skull was cracked at the very least; but he always finishes what he starts. He had a harder time connecting words for a moment, but soon recovered.

"Okay, I didn't mean it like that… it's just, you're a CO in the most powerful army in the entirety of the planet, it took all the Allied Nations just to drive you out of their borders, and they've _barely_ scrapped it out each time. So why does one near loss put you into a rut?"

Lash put her hand to Maverick's wound, and he winced away. She wrapped her arms around him. "She my sister!" she just screamed it out. Maverick noticed that it seemed like the whole camp went completely silent, including the wind which had until recently been whistling thru the trees. "Beki is my older sister. She betrayed the family when I was young. She killed my father who had been a great general in the Black Hole Army… because he oppressed the people of other countries, merely because they were in the way… because he issued a scorched earth policy every time a battle seemed out of his men's favor. He would demoralize the enemy by making them watch their homes burn; and even if it would give them the fighting spirit they would usually become reckless in their vengeance. I tried to use that tactic, but it always backfired."

"Your sister? Wait rewind, you are the younger daughter of the legendary General Sin Vice!?"

"Yes, but now you see why I never talk about my family."

"What about your mother?"

"I… I… I don't wanna talk about her." Lash was sobbing at this point.

"It's okay, sweetie… it's okay… I'm here for you…'

"Maverick! I love you! Don't betray me like my sister did!"

He held her close… "But, I've betrayed her from the start…" that thought ripped thru his mind over and over. "I'll never betray you," he told her; and added in his mind "again." And with that promise, he felt Raphael Silver die, and Maverick Brande become his true identity.

CHAP 6

Silver Command had been expecting a contact from Raphael for at least three hours and were beginning to wonder if he may have been killed in the attack. They were beginning to panic when finally, "Silver Command Come in!"

"Raphael! Thank God!" Beki answered, "So what's the news?"

"You killed your father didn't you?" Maverick was aiming to hurt.

The shot connected, "You bastard! How dare you talk about me like that… wait, did Lash?"

"Yes Beki Vice! Lash told me everything!"

"I… You… Lash… WHAT THE FUCK!"

"Oh and by the way, my name is Maverick Brande. Raphael Silver died shortly after I heard about your father."

"WAIT A MINUTE BRO!" Jido came out from further back in the room. "You are throwing away you're entire ideology because Beki erased an atrocity from the Tome of Time? That's not like you Raph!"

"That's a very good point Jido Silver! Your brother Raphael is not like that. But I am a completely different person. You can count Raphael as a battle fatality. Because I know what happens to a rebellion when the founder is a turncoat... on second thought, I just figured out how to end this pointless war; tell the rebellion, then less of you will die. I already know all of your hideouts, caches, and spies inside the army… I'll start with them, if you don't believe me, wait about a week." The transmission cut…

"Raphael! RAPHAEL! Come in! Please tell me you were kidding! WHO THE FUCK GAVE YOU PERMISSION TO TALK ABOUT MY FAMILY! WHY NOT TELL THEM ABOUT MY MOTHER TOO! RAPHAEL!!"

"Beki, he's gone." Jido was holding back tears. "He's Maverick Brande now. He's… he's our sworn enemy."

"HOW! How can you give up on him like that!" Beki was sobbing. "He must have been discovered, they, they forced him to do it! That must be it! They brainwashed him!"

"No, Beki, you know that twins can practically read each other's mind merely by looking in the other's eyes… he's gone."

"He was my fucking hero! YOU TRAITOR!!"

CHAP 7

Hawke announced he'd come almost three hours early, but Lash knew that he would, and the hardest part was trying to get Maverick out of bed before 7:45; and that was a chore. He used the excuse of his head hurting; likely true with a spider-crack break in his forehead, from Lash's headbutt. But she literally rolled him out of their bed as they now shared the tent, among other things.

After he was thoroughly awake, showered and dressed; she eased up on him since she expected another half hour before Hawke's arrival. He grumbled thru breakfast and told the cook to start brewing the 'good' coffee as he left the mess.

The two CO's and their sub commanders all stood at full attention as Hawke's jeep rolled into the camp. The usual greetings and what-not took place and they escorted the general into the mess hall which had in the past three minutes been military cleaned and transformed from a real-mess-of-a-mess-hall into an officers' luncheon room; with the soldiers filed into ranks and standing at full attention flagmen at either side of the formation.

Hawke moved straight to the flagman on the left. He grabbed the flagpole and raised the tip about half an inch. "Keep your nation's flag just barely above the CO's personal flag, not equal. Common mistake, but important."

"Yessir! Thank you general!"

Hawke turned and smiled at Lash, because she was the senior officer, these were her men, even those under Maverick's command. A small fact that made Maverick's blood boil; especially since that flagman was one of his. He also noticed the flagman holding his flag move to lower his flag; Maverick shot a venomous look and slowly shook his head.

Hawke watched this little wordless conversation with amusement. "Yes soldier, the flags should always be at heights according to chain of command."

The soldier nodded to Hawke and lowered the flag just slightly. He looked at Maverick, and knew from the look in his CO's eyes, that he would be eating his last meal while Hawke was still on base. And it would be a long and painful death.

Maverick's forehead kept throbbing, "I must have bumped it last night" he thought. He kept a straight face and even found a joke or two during the lunch. But it seemed to be getting worse.

Hawke and Lash both noticed he was in discomfort, but neither of them mentioned anything. They figured if he wanted to make a deal out of his pain, he would. They made their reports of the battle, both leaving out their little conflict. Hawke knew about this fight and Lash's behavior afterwards, from the paper reports made by Maverick and Lash's senior officers. He thought it was cute that they both would cover for her; cute but irritating.

After lunch, they walked around the camp and talked about the progress. Thirty spies were found and publicly executed, raids on hidden Silver bases, and the unveiling of several hidden weapon caches. Though he was pestered about it, Maverick would not reveal his source, all he'd say is he had an inside man, who was recently compromised, so he's laying low.

Maverick's forehead started pounding. It took him until now to realize he had forgotten to take the painkillers the doctor had prescribed. Lash could read his face, and realized that he missed his meds when she was rushing him to get ready in the morning. She felt guilty but hid it rather well.  
Hawke noticed the subtle changes in the demeanors of his underlings. "Is something wrong? You seem a little distant Maverick."

"No it's nothing sir." He knew if Hawke found out about his broken forehead, the matter would become an outward issue; Maverick is a horrible liar about these sorts of things.

"No really, you look like you're in pain. Are you sure you are alright?"

"Does he know?" Lash thought nervously.

"I'm fine sir, I just stubbed my toe."

"Well if that's all. Shall we continue?"

"I don't see why not." Lash quickly changed the subject back to the evaluation.

It was another hour before Hawke decided he had seen enough of the camp; or more directly, toying with the tension of the COs. He loved to play with peoples' emotions and being in a military situation, it was rather unusual to have an opportunity such as these two had given him. He wondered if he could get them to snap, but he decided not to risk it because whether he caused Maverick or Lash to trip out, Maverick was likely to get violent. He knew that the bond between the two was very strong, even if the general in him disapproved; he looked upon these two almost like children, and he didn't want either of them to suffer distress at his hand. Hawke laughed at his own sentiments.

Lash and Maverick just kinda looked at each other and shrugged. They followed Hawke to his jeep and watched as he drove off. "He's certainly a bizarre one isn't he sweetie?" Maverick turned with a smile.

Lash could read the extreme pain all over his face. "Yeah babe, he is bizarre. But you should take those painkillers now. I don't wanna see you in any more pain."

Maverick wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close.

"Hey, not in front of the men!" she whispered sharply.

Maverick pecked her on the lips and walked off to their tent. Lash giggled and then followed after him.

CHAP 8

The shells were falling about a half-mile away, and you could hear the cries of the dying men. "Lash! We need to withdraw!"

"NO! I'm not going to lose against that Bitch of a sister!" the look in Lash's eyes scared Maverick.

The next shell hit just outside the CP, tearing the heavy canvas to shreds with the debris and shrapnel and the shock blowing everything around. Slightly dazed, Maverick stumbled up to his feet. He looked around; Lash's XO was on the ground behind him, dead. He saw Lash, the table had flipped and landed on her. He ran over and threw the table aside. Her left femur was sticking out of her leg, and a gash on her forehead; he checked her vitals.

"Thank god she's only unconscious." Maverick sighed. He heard footsteps, turning he drew his Uzi. The medic arrived with Maverick's XO.

The medic moved to check Lash's senior officer; "dead, I already checked him." Maverick said before the man had taken a second step. "Lash is beat up pretty bad."

"Let me take her," the medic set her on the most even ground he could find. The medic's face darkened as he checked her, "Maverick, Sir, I advise you to leave the tent now."

"I won't leave her!"

The medic turned and pointed a scalpel at him, "yes, you will… I'm using my medical status to give you an order."

Maverick's face went pale, and then crimson, but he said nothing. He ran from the tent, his XO followed. "Sir! Sir!"

"What is it Riley?"

"What are your orders?"

It just hit him that he was now the ranking officer. "Riley, give me your radio."

The senior officer handed it over.

"This is Maverick! Fall back! Repeat! ALL UNITS FALL BACK!"

"Sir are you certain?"

"Yes Riley, there's nothing we can do about that new type of artillery except get out of range."

"But what if they come after us?"

"From what we've seen, the weapon needs to be disassembled before it can be moved. We can have plenty of warning before they can fire again… besides, I've got a plan."

Later that night, after it got dark, Maverick went to check on Lash, who still hadn't woken up. The camp surgeon told him that she had internal bleeding, but that was under control. After he was sure that she wasn't going die while he was gone, Maverick gave her a kiss on the forehead and left.

He met with Riley and two members of the Covert Ops Elites known as Unit Firestorm. "Alright, everyone's here. Do I need to go over the plan again?"

Everyone shook their head.

"Good, move out."

They ran silently out of the camp, and into the night.

After running for about an hour, they got to the top of a hill about a mile from the enemy CP, and stopped.

Riley put down his pack, and opened it, revealing a disassembled Sniper rifle. He began to put the pieces together at an amazing pace.

"Alright, synchronize watches to 23:00… 3, 2, 1, now." Maverick told them. "Alright at 23:12 and thirteen seconds, Riley will show us why he got the nickname 'silent lightning'. We have to be down there and on the inside of the fences by then. The plan is for you two to sabotage the new weapons and recon anything you can. I'll go for their CO. We have at the very most until 23:15 before they notice the guards didn't report in. you guys have a vehicle ready by then. Move out!"

They reached the fence with five minutes to spare. They had to be careful because of the patrolling guards. They got the fence cut, and barely got through as it hit 23:11. Now they would wait one minute. They pulled out their field knifes. As soon as it was time, they split up.

Riley's main job was to cover Maverick as he moved towards the CO's tent. So if anyone was coming out of their tent for any reason, Riley was to give them a nice clean hole between the eyes.

Maverick ran swiftly and silently between the tents. He knew exactly how these camps were set up, so he moved straight for the CO's tent. He got there and took a deep breath and moved silently through the canvas-flap doors.

"Is someone there?" it was Beki's voice.

He moved silently behind her, he was going to enjoy this. He followed her over to her desk lamp. She reached for the lamp, and he reached for the chloroform soaked cloth he had. The light clicked on, and her head snapped around to find Maverick's face not a few inches from hers. She went to scream, but the cloth covered her mouth as she inhaled. She was out before she finished breathing.

Maverick smiled, he always liked scaring people, but usually in a fun way. He hoisted Beki onto his back, and tied her arms and legs so she wouldn't bounce around as he ran. He poked his head out of the door to make sure nobody was there. A guard was making his way thru and spotted him. Before the guard could react, his brains lightly splattered the tent behind him, courtesy of a .50 caliber sniper round.

Maverick heard a commotion over where they cut the fence, so he ran full-tilt for the motor pool. He saw the two Unit Firestorm guys in a jeep down the way. He ran straight for the jeep and jumped in. he struggled to untie Beki from him. He threw her into the seat next to him.

They tore out of the base and off into the dark hills. The only stop they made was to pick up Riley. Then they drove off back to base, with a prized prisoner.

CHAP 9

"Wake up Beki," a familiar voice from the past hit the ears of the semiconscious woman.

"What… where?"

"Beki of Silver Hurricane, you are now a prisoner of my lovely lady. And wouldn't you know it, its Lash's birthday." Maverick jibed

"Yes babe and she's the perfect gift. Thank you."

"Lash… Lash? My sister?" Beki was still hazy

"Yes, big sister, it's been a long time."

"Why don't you explain what's about to happen."

Beki began to come around. She began to try to get up, and soon realized she was strapped to a table. She looked around and saw that there were wires sticking out of various places in her body. "What's going on?"

"Well, sister, my boyfriend here is a master of torture. He has recently, with my help, found all of the points of the body most sensitive to pain, as well as the parts of the brain that are responsible for all negative emotions. As you noticed, you have wires in your body; you also have many sticking into parts of your head. When I turn this dial, all the wires will stimulate the pain points as well as the emotion centers."

"Essentially, you will tell us anything to make it stop. No matter what training you received against torture, they never imagined this. Would you like to turn it on?"

Lash turned it on to the first level. A quiet hum filled the air. A second later, Beki began to twitch. "Feel like talking?" Lash asked, knowing the answer.

"Is that the best you got?" Beki said thru gritted teeth.

Lash giggled, "Oh goodie, more fun!" she turned the dial to the second setting.

A small yelp escaped Beki's mouth. Lash turned it up to the third setting, and Beki began to whimper. Lash's giggling stopped, and something in her eyes changed.

Lash cranked it straight to the fifth setting. Beki broke into a full scream. All of a sudden, the machine cut out. And Lash moved to release the restraints from her now unconscious sister.

"Lash? What are you doing?"

"Despite how much I hate her… I can't stand this being done to my sister, regardless who does it, or why it's done. She's my big sister."

"But she killed your father."

"That's why I cranked it at the end. But even that just made it worse."

"I see… so you're going to let her go?"

Lash began pulling out all the wires, "I guess so, it's the only way to repay her for this."

"I don't think General Hawke will agree. But, I support whatever you decide. Especially since it's your birthday."

Lash gave a half chuckle. And she turned to a soldier nearby, "bring me a jeep."

"But…"

"Just do it," Maverick seconded the order.

The jeep pulled up moments later and Maverick helped Lash put Beki in the back seat. "Are you sure about this?"

"No. but I must do it anyways."

"Alright. I believe in you. I'll be waiting."

Lash smiled at Maverick and started the jeep. She drove off into the sunset.

"Women, I guess I'll never understand them."

CHAP 10

"Advance the tanks another two kilometers east!" Lash ordered, "Where the hell is Maverick?"

"He went out with his XO and those Firestorm guys again!" a soldier replied.

"Again?" Lash sighed, "It would be nice if he told me these things once in a while."

Maverick and his squad moved silently thru the forest. There was a large detachment of enemy MBTs nearby and they were going to take them out. Riley put up a hand, a few seconds later he pointed. There was the enemy formation, slowly plodding thru the forest, thinking that nobody had noticed they were even on the battlefield.

They set down their heavy equipment, and made sure they had their field knives in one hand and they had two grenades each. Maverick nodded and they took off towards the back of the formation.

They each got onto the back of a different tank. They looked at each other, and simultaneously four tank hatches opened, four grenades dropped, and the hatches were held closed again. As soon as the grenades went off, they disappeared into the forest.

The tank formation stopped and a few of the operators left the tank; they were all shot in the legs as they got out. This left the remaining tank operators in a state of disarray, debating whether or not to help their friends who were obviously bait. They decided to use the tanks to form a protective barrier around the injured men.

As soon as the hatches opened, the RPGs were fired from above the tanks; Maverick and Riley fired them from the tree branches. They leapt down with their field knives in hand and finished off the rest of the operators. They wiped the blood from their faces and turned to the Firestorm'ers; "Willie peters?" Maverick asked with a smile.

They left the tanks smoking and covered in WP. They ran into one of their infantry squadrons along the way. The battle was won and Maverick was in a good mood; Lash was another story entirely.

CHAP 11

Lash was livid; and Maverick had no warning. He walked into the CP and first thing he knew, he was on the floor with a burning slap-mark on his cheek.

"Where the hell have you been?" she was standing over him with her hands on her hips and a look that would send the devil running.

Maverick was still reeling from the smack and couldn't think of anything to say.

"I'll ask only one more time; where?"

"Riley, the Firestorm guys and I just won us the battle."

Lash started to tap her foot, showing that she was about to tear his head off.

"We went into the forest over the eastern hill. There were MBTs coming thru there. We blew them to hell."

Lash seemed to get angrier, if it were possible. She began to stutter as she spoke. "And you decided to go and play with your life without even a word to me! What if you had died! Besides, as your superior I have to know where you are at all times!"

"Do you really have to bring up that 'superior' bullshit?"

Lash knocked him back down as he was standing up. "DON'T YOU TALK TO ME LIKE THAT!"

Once again, Maverick was at a loss for words.

"I'm sitting here, scared out of my wits because I don't know where you are! How the hell am I supposed to command well when I'm stuck with an emotional problem like that?" Lash began to cry.

"Lash… sweetie… I…" Maverick had no clue what to say. He was genuinely knocked for a loop that Lash would act like this.

"SAY SOMETHING DAMMIT!"

"Sweetie… I am so sorry that I worried you like that. I will let you know the next time I get a crazy idea like that."

"Is that all you have to say?"

"What more is there to say?"

The absolute rage returned to her eyes and she gave him a full-force round kick to the chest. Maverick laid on the ground, dazed and gasping for breath, as Lash ran out of the CP sobbing.

CHAP 12

After the fiasco in the CP following the last battle, the doctor declared the new bone fusing surgery he had used on Lash's compound fracture a mere two weeks before as a complete success beyond his expectations. The ability to round kick someone was proof enough that Commander Lash's leg was healed. The same procedure was used on Maverick's 6 broken ribs from said kick.

Maverick trudged thru the camp, refusing to speak to Lash, who was in another depression. He would leave any room that she was in, and he would roll in their bed so that he would face the wall whenever she came in their tent, if he was even there to begin with.

The camp was a disaster as far as morale went; especially since the fatality rate of Maverick's "stress venting" was in the forties at the moment. But both COs were in a horrible rut. Riley was taking over the duties of Maverick, and some of Lash's, because her new XO was really green at the officer bit.

Lash went to Riley because she needed to get a hold of Maverick for something. She whispered something in the XO's ear. Riley stepped back and eyed her up. He then ran full-tilt to find his CO.

It took Riley twenty minutes to find Maverick, in the bar.

"Um, sir I don't think you can legally drink yet."

"The old bartender said the same thing to me."

"I'm almost afraid to ask, what happened to him?"

"What do you think?" Maverick stroked his Uzi sitting on the table.

"I had a hunch that was it."

"What do you want Riley, it's not like you to just come to chew the fat."

"Commander Lash has something important to tell you."

"Oh, so she's talking now?"

"Yes sir," Riley could tell something in Maverick's tone of voice wasn't right.

"Good for her…" he seemed to be thinking about something.

"Sir, she wishes to speak with you."

"Well I don't want to talk to her. She meant to hurt me this time, so I really don't wanna see that bitch."

"Sir, this may be something you want to hear."

"Oh, so now she tells you things before she talks to me?"

"Somehow I knew you would misconstrue the situation. Trust me, as a friend, Maverick talk to her. _Now_."

"That sounded like an order Riley."

"In all honesty, if I need to knock you out and strap you down to hear what she has to say, I will."

"Riley, that was either genuine kindness or pure evil… I'm not sure which, but it intrigues me, I'll see her. But if you're wrong about it, I'll need a new XO."

"Sir, I have no fear of you killing me after you hear this."

CHAP 13

Maverick knew exactly where to find Lash; he walked over to their tent. She was sitting on the bed. She had an apologetic smile on her face. She stood up and moved to hug him.

Maverick stepped away and pushed her back, "Riley said you had something important to tell me."

Lash looked like she had just been stabbed, "yes… I wanted to tell you something… about us."

"'Us'? In case you haven't noticed, at the moment there is no 'us', no 'you and me', nothing like that."

"Why do you have to be so cruel?"

"Why did you have to kick me? All I did was win a battle without your permission as my superior officer."

"Stop that! You're dwelling on an act caused by a lot of stress!"

"Is that an order?"

The voice Maverick used was so dark and cold it caused Lash to burst into tears.

"I think that we're done here." Maverick turned on his heel to walk out.

"I guess that proves what kind of father you are!" Lash screamed.

Maverick froze, and the entire camp was silent. "Father I _am_?" he turned slowly.

Lash saw the rage and darkness were gone from his eyes, and in their place she saw confusion and then, realization.

"Wait a minute! You mean?"

Lash just nodded.

Maverick's eyes softened and he looked at Lash once again with love in his eyes.

Lash merely smiled back at him.

"I'm still angry at you, but I think I may be able to forgive you now." Maverick hugged Lash tightly.

"I love you too babe."

CHAP 14

The next day the entire camp knew; but it seemed that nobody knew how to react. The soldiers seemed on edge, especially around Maverick; Maverick had shot soldiers for complementing him before, so they kinda left him to himself.

Lash however, wouldn't leave his side. He didn't mind that, but he did mind the fact that every soldier would be watching them as they'd go by.

He knew that it would be a very bad day when Hawke found out. He knew that Hawke disapproved of their relationship, and would like a reason to separate them. Something in Maverick told him that the pregnancy would cause huge trouble in some way. Little did he know what exactly that would entail.

Riley ran up to Maverick, a bit of panic in his eyes. "SIR! It's Commander Lash!"

Maverick followed Riley to the mess hall. And Lash was standing in the corner, pointing one of her Lugers at her head and one at the soldiers trying to approach her. She shot them if they came within two strides of her.

"LASH WHAT THE HELL?" Maverick shouted over all the noise. The room went silent and everyone froze, it seemed like hours before anyone had the courage to turn and look at him.

"I CAN'T DO IT! I'LL NEVER BE LIKE HER!" Lash screamed, tears cascading down her face.

"Like who?"

"I CAN'T DO THAT TO MY BABY!"

"Lash, you're not making sense! …DO WHAT TO OUR BABY?"

"I WON'T!"

Maverick moved across the entire room in the span of two seconds. A shot rang out, the echo continued. Maverick just stood there. A few seconds later, the smell of blood had permeated every inch of the room.

Lash fell to the ground, a bullet hole in her wrist. Maverick put the .22 back on his hip. He walked over and kicked her Lugers away. He knelt next to her and cradled her to his chest.

"I can't… I can't… I can't…"

"Lash… shhh…its okay… I'm here…"

"I'll never be like my mother…"

"What do you mean…?"

"I'll never try to kill my baby…"

CHAP 15

"So how bad is she?" Maverick was standing on the other side of the curtain from Lash's hospital bed.

"She lost a lot of blood… she'll pull through, but it's too early to tell everything that the bullet did. We do however know that she will never use that hand again; the bullet severed the tendon." The doctor looked at the chart.

"How about…"

"The baby?" it was obvious the doctor was expecting that question. "At the moment, the baby seems fine."

"At the moment?"

"Well, like I said, she lost a lot of blood. So it's possible that the baby…"

"What is your best guess?"

"I don't guess…" the doctor heard the safety on Maverick's .22 click. "But if I would have to…" he studied the charts closely, "they'll both be fine by the end of the weekend."

Maverick sat down in a chair and took off his vest and the chest holster with his Uzi. He leaned over and put his forehead in his hands. Sighing heavily, he leaned back in the chair and looked up at the ceiling.

After about a minute, he walked thru the curtain. Lash looked so peaceful in her anesthesia-induced sleep. Stopping to think; he walked back out and came back pulling the chair behind him. He sat down again and watched her sleep. He gingerly laid his head down on her chest, listening to her heart.

He placed a hand on her stomach and felt sadness slowly burn its way thru him. It was a strange sadness, unlike any he'd felt before. It came from his core, but it felt like it radiated from Lash as well. After several minutes, he began to see signs that she was waking up. "Lash?"

A tear rolled down her cheek, it was followed by another. "Maverick?"

"Shhh… I'm here… it's alright."

More tears came to her eyes, but she still wouldn't open them. "Forgive me."

"Don't worry about it."

She put her good hand over Maverick's and finally opened her eyes, the obvious question burning within them.

Maverick smiled weakly, "don't worry, just fine."

Lash smiled and faded back to sleep.

Maverick heard the last voice he wanted to hear outside the door… his mind screamed "General Hawke! Oh Shit!"

The door opened and Maverick could see the Generals silhouette through the curtain. "Well, well… this is a surprise…"

CHAP 16

"How did I know something like this would happen?" Hawke was obscenely cocky the way he said that.

"Get out, you aren't welcome here if you are gonna be like that." Maverick knew that Hawke could kill him as easily as he could kill the general. But that didn't dull his protective instincts as a lover, or a father.

Hawke chuckled as the young man moved between his general and his unconscious love. "Boy, you know that in this country, I am law. I'm not there to hurt you or Lash."

"You left out something very important!" Maverick clicked the safety on his .22.

"No, I didn't. The child has no place in the current situation. She is a high-ranking officer in the middle of a war. She cannot be pregnant at a time like this."

"Yes, she can… and she WILL." In a single motion, he chambered a round and brought his gun to the General's face.

"Maverick, this is why I disapproved of your relationship in the first place. I knew you would put her before your duties. Look, this war is almost over, you can have another child after that." He moved to push the gun away from his face, but Maverick didn't budge it.

"You can't always have your way General. Now, back down or I fire."

"No, Maverick, this is your last chance; Stand down or face the repercussions."

"Well, general, it seems we are at an impasse… goodbye."

"Maverick…" Lash weakly grabbed his free hand. "Don't, its ok…"

"THE HELL IT IS! I've known people that have tried their whole lives to get pregnant, and it never happened. We may never have another shot at this."

"Babe, if you don't back down, we will NEVER have another chance."

Maverick knew that, but he couldn't stand the thought of losing a child, even if it wasn't even born yet. He pulled back the slide and pulled the trigger, uncocking his weapon. "General, I won't shoot you, but you know you're on my Shit-list."

"Oh… scary." Hawke chuckled.

Maverick had it; he did a full wind-up, and unleashed a devastating Double Spinning Crescent Kick, striking the General's right jaw with both feet in turn. "No repercussions, you had that coming…_SIR_." He put so much emphasis on the last word that he bowed before the currently floored commander.

CHAP 17

Maverick wasn't technically punished, but he received a serious talking to from Hawke. He visited Lash afterwards, and she was once again depressed because she just got finished with the abortion procedure. But unlike the other depressions, she was more than willing to talk to Maverick.

"I feel empty now, I know I was only about 2 months along, but I could feel the life inside me…" She stopped talking and started sobbing.

Maverick pulled her to him and cradled her. He was screaming in anguish on the inside, but he was trying to act strong for her. He couldn't help but feel he failed the God-given duty of protecting his own child. "Shhh… it's like he said… we can try again after all of this is over."

Lash nodded against his arm but kept crying. She fell asleep crying after a few minutes.

The next morning, they left for their camp. The drive there was silent but for the sounds of the engines. They pulled up to the camp and saw that Riley was there waiting, and oddly enough he wasn't happy.

"Riley, good to see a friendly face… what's wrong?" Maverick hopped out of the driver's seat.

Riley held out a small sheet of paper, "orders have just come in sir… we're to invade Yellow Comet…"

Lash suddenly brightened up, "I can finally pay back that little bitch Sonja!"

"Not quite…" Riley said "Just Maverick, myself and our troops…"

"WHAT!" Maverick tore the sheet out of Riley's hands; he read it eight times before he said anything… "FUCK YOU GENERAL!"

Lash took the orders, "_Maverick, due to your exceptional offensive abilities, you and those at your command are to assault and destroy the capitol of Yellow Comet. You are to Ship Out in five days, you will have a funding limit of 500,000 to create and maintain your invasion force, after that funding is up to you. Good hunting! –General Hawke_…" Lash collapsed to her knees. "He's sending you against Yellow comet like that?" She began sobbing. "You won't even have anyone to double up with. It's hopeless…"

Nobody said anything, nobody did anything, the only sound was Lash's crying. "Riley?"

"Yessir?"

"How do you feel about a command?"

"Sir?"

CHAP 18

It was the largest force ever to exist with only 2 CO's. One crucial thing Hawke forgot was that Riley Syrus was the son of the man who owned of almost every production facility in Black Hole, the Multi-billionaire Joshua Syrus. A single phone call and the Syrus Inc. facilities all began working full tilt. Apparently Joshua wanted to give his son a fighting chance on a suicide mission.

Another key point was that Riley specialized in range and vision, to an even greater degree than Grit and Sonja, but everything else suffered greatly. But Maverick's offensive capabilities balanced that out, his mobility and raw power were insane, plus they were both really good strategists.

It was sunrise on the fifth day, and a full-scale invasion army was loaded onto a navy that had enough firepower to cook every fish in the ocean for miles with a single volley. The skies filled with the roar of about ten thousand aircraft engines.

The Grand Harbor was filled with families, lovers, and well-wishers. On the grandstand were all of the Black Hole CO's, including the Bolt Guard. The Commanders stood in dress uniform at full attention, they saluted as Maverick and Riley walked onto the stand. Maverick shook hands with each of them in turn, and he was halfway friends with a few of them:

"Flak, I promise to arm wrestle when we get back."

"Mr. Von Bolt, call me if you want ideas for some crazy experiments"

"Koal, don't have too much fun without me, ok?"

He got to Hawke, there was a wordless exchange between them; but their eyes screamed 'I will see you in Hell'.

Maverick reached Lash at the end, "fuck regulations!" he pulled her to him and in front of everyone, gave the most pure and passionate kiss he had ever given. They stood in each others arms for a minute. Slowly they let go, "I have to go Sweetie."

"I don't want you to! I don't think I'll ever see you again!"

Riley smiled and put an arm around Maverick, "don't worry Commander, if this punk gets into too much trouble, I'll be there to bale him out!"

Lash smiled weakly, "you know, two weeks ago, he would have killed you on the spot for saying that."

"Riley, no… I would have just kicked _him _around, anybody else though…"

"Maverick, it's time to go." Riley gave him a slight nudge.

Maverick gave Lash one last kiss. He slowly walked up the ramp to his Command Ship, the _Retribution_. He and Riley turned and looked across the sight before them; the people, the CO's, the city in the backdrop.

Maverick clapped a hand on his friend's shoulder, "take it all in, it may be the last time we ever see it."

"Mav?"

"What?"

"Do you think we can win?"

"We have to. I plan on marrying Lash; and a dead man can't propose to the woman he loves, now can he?"

"No, I suppose not." **END**


	2. Chapter 2

**BOOK 2: STAINING THE COMET**

CHAP 1

_Dear Lash,_

_We are about halfway to Yellow Comet and I am bored as hell. There is almost nothing to do onboard; I've already wracked my brain for every bit of strategic planning, but we both know that won't be worth shit after about a week… 'Best laid plans of mice and men', you know how it goes. _

_Riley and I have gone thru the records of over thirty officers, as well as interviewing most of them; we found three that we decided that would be fit for command. I have sent a letter to General 'Birdbrain' telling him all about it, and he wasn't happy that I had so many high-ranking underlings, but I'm sure you know all about that._

_I've been so bored that I even went clothes shopping; yes we even have a clothing store on the ship… who knew? Riley says I look bad-ass. My new get up is: a black pair of denim bondage pants, a white t-shirt, a black leather jacket with the Black Hole flag on the back, and a red leather cap on backwards. Riley picked up an outfit very similar to my old one._

_I'm running out of things to say so…_

_Lots of love - Maverick _

Maverick folded the letter and put it in an envelope. He looked at the clock, "Shit, I better hurry to the mail drop." He opened the door to his quarters, and ran down the hallway. He paused, and ran back to close the door.

CHAP 2

Maverick got up early that morning, an extremely rare occurrence. He put on a t-shirt and a parachute pants. He looked at the video map and saw that they would arrive at Yellow Comet a few hours after sundown that night. He smiled and went on a jog around the upper deck of his flagship, the _Retribution_.

His regular workout since setting sail two weeks ago consisted of at least five laps around his ship , dangling from the railings and doing a hand-over-hand as far as he could around the ship's lower deck (the crew had to send a rescue boat after him the first time), and as many push-ups and sit-ups as he could handle. Then he would hold Taekwondo lessons to those willing among the crew.

After lunch, he called a meeting for his four CO's: Riley the 'Silent Lightning', Thorn the counter-intelligence operative, Crank the 'Maniacal Mechanic', and Chase the Tactical Analyst. The five of them sat down at the conference table, Maverick laid out the now memorized map of Yellow Comet. "All right, I know we all know the plan by heart; we send in our subs and stealth bombers first, to soften their defenses. As soon as they report first contact, we mobilize the landers with the tanks, MBTs and anti-air batteries. Then once they start hitting the beaches, we send in the footmen and the APCs, they head straight for the Harbors and Missile Silos.

"As for our ships, the battleships move in as close to shore as enemy movement and the seas will allow, to provide fire-support for the ground forces, the cruisers will support the subs, and the carriers will be ready to launch fighter squadrons as needed.

Once we have a solid foothold, we send in the landers with our experimental Mobile Cannons and the materials and manpower to build our mass-production factory…"

"But sir!"

"Yes Chase, I know that you are about to bring up the fact that the factories have failed on multiple occasions. But like every time you say that, I have to point out that _Crank_ will be in charge of ours."

Chase still wasn't satisfied, but he leaned back in his chair. Arguing with Maverick was harder than arguing with General Hawke. He looked over at Crank, who was smirking.

Maverick quick swept the table with his eyes before continuing. "Once we have the factory up and running, we will adjust our plans accordingly. Any more input?"

The room was quiet and nobody said anything. Maverick reached under the table, "all right, I know that I am the only one here that's too young to drink, but I have a bottle of something special here. We drink half now, and the other half when we meet up again in Yellow Comet's Capital."

"Commander Brande! That's Liquid Gold! That's like 250 a bottle!" Chase was amazed that anyone would share something so obscenely expensive.

The five glasses were raised:

"To Victory!" Riley

"To Black Hole!" Thorn

"To a new dawn!" Chase

"To a Hell of a fight! Crank

"To whatever the hell lies ahead!" Maverick

All five of them yelled "CHEERS!" at the top of their lungs, and downed their drinks. "Gentlemen, finish your prep work, then get some rest… it's gonna be a long night. DISMISSED!"

The others saluted Maverick and left. Maverick began to clean up the room. He noticed that there was a little extra left in his glass. He walked over and looked at it. Slowly swirling it, he sighed, "To those we left at home…" he took the last swig of his drink and slumped into the nearest chair.

CHAP 3

A klaxon woke Maverick. He lifted himself out of the chair as the announcement of "all hands to battle stations!"

Maverick walked over to the phone on the wall, "Brande to C.I.C."

"Yessir?"

"Broadcast me to all stations."

"Just a moment… you're connected sir."

"This is Commander Brande, all hands pay attention! This is the moment you've all been waiting for. We've trained for this, we've wanted this, and the hour is here. Now get ready, we've got some ass to kick!" Maverick heard a few yells thru the vents and smiled.

He opened the door and went to the Bridge. He walked in and the room snapped to attention. "God damn it! This is a combat center! You don't do that in the middle of a battle!"

Everyone found their seats unusually fast. Maverick walked over to the captain, "fucking rookies, how do you put up with them?"

"Practice sir."

"SitRep?"

"Everything's going as smoothly as we planned."

"What stage of the plan are we in?"

"We are landing the footmen."

"Resistance? How many casualties?"

"Very little"

"This is bad."

"What is sir?"

Maverick ran over to the communications officer. "General frequency NOW!"

The officer did as he was commanded, both puzzled and a little nervous.

"All hands prepare for enemy counterstrike! Reorganize the fleet into defensive formation! Get all landers away, whether they're ready or not!"

Mere seconds after he said that, the sonar lit up as silent old-fashioned diesel- electric submarines began opening fire from directly beneath the fleet.

"FISH IN THE WATER!" the sonar man yelled

Maverick and the Captain both yelled "launch countermeasures and brace for contact!"

The skies above the oceans off the northern coasts of Yellow Comet glowed orange that night. The Black Hole fleet lost of four entire battle-groups and many supply ships. The ground forces watched in horror as thousands of their comrades were lost before their eyes.

The _Retribution _made one final radio contact as it sank… "Ril… Syrus… in com…nd… Mav…ck out…" Then… nothing.

CHAP 4

The sun was low in the sky as Maverick ran; he knew that he had been spotted by enemy troops after limping his way off the beach he had washed up onto. He knew he was being followed, he didn't know by how many or how close they were, he merely knew they were coming. His energy had run out about three miles before, and he was going on adrenaline alone.

He didn't care about getting back to his men; he just needed to stay alive. All he had was his wits and his field knife. He knew he didn't stand a chance in his condition, at least two broken ribs, a hurt leg, and countless bumps and scratches.

The sound of engines up ahead made Maverick slow his pace. Maverick saw the road and stopped at the treeline. An enemy APC was sitting there, and the driver and a soldier were leaning against it. "So they sent us out here to the middle of nowhere because someone sighted a Black Hole CO?"

Maverick began to sneak under the APC, he needed a weapon, and the soldier had one.

"That's what they told me. We're a prison truck today."

"How is it that an entire platoon of men can't catch a single wounded soldier?"

Maverick grabbed the soldier's legs and dragged him under the truck, plunging his knife into the man's chest. He twisted it as he pulled it out and threw it into the meat of the driver's leg.

After about two minutes, Maverick had stripped the truck of anything useful, and shot the engine full of holes. He turned to get out of the truck, but a stun grenade landed at his feet. The concussion of the grenade rippled thru his body, he collapsed dazed and completely helpless.

When Maverick came to, he was in the back of the truck. He tried to get up, put his body was still recovering from his injuries, the run and the grenade; he won't be getting up anytime soon. Once he resigned himself to that fact, he just laid his head back down and got what he knew would be his last restful sleep in a while.

CHAP 5

Maverick woke up while he was in the infirmary. He was strapped to the bed, but he could still look around. Other than the armed guard, it was a regular hospital room. "So you're awake?" the guard asked.

Maverick didn't respond, but the guard walked out the door. He quickly tried to work himself loose in his straps. A minute later, Sonja walked in. "Maverick Brande… yes I know who you are. And that's useless by the way."

"What do you want?"

"It's not what I want, but what you want…"

"Meaning?"

"If you answer my questions, I will be nice to you. But otherwise, we have to send you to the interrogator. And he's not a very kind man. But since you are new to the Black Cadre, and have yet to do anything underhanded and dishonorable, I can help you if you help me."

Maverick didn't say anything, so Sonja continued. "First question, exactly how large is your strike force?"

"…big"

"I mean how many men?"

"More than one, less than forty million."

Sonja sighed and walked to the door, "this is going nowhere…"

Maverick may have been in a prison cell, but he couldn't stop smiling, he knew that by now his men would have found out he had been captured and also where he was. He knew he just had to basically sit and twiddle his thumbs, waiting for Riley to come and get him. For the most part, this just seemed like a bizarre training exercise.

He was in a military prison, so he overheard guards saying that Black Hole troops were progressing rather easily through Yellow Comet, and that the other Allied Nations were still trying to scramble enough troops to help. All in all, the invasion was going without a hitch.

The worst part of his day was at four-thirty everyday, the Interrogator paid him a visit. As Sonja had said, the Interrogator was a very unkind man. He was unkind, but Maverick had done worse, once or twice to his own men. Sonja was there every day, and made her same offer of "scratch my back and I will scratch yours"; and each day Maverick stayed silent.

There was a commotion at the main gate around four o'clock one day. Maverick grinned when he heard Riley's voice. Riley and Chase were in Guard's uniforms, in an argument with the warden about their 'recent transfer'. When Sonja came out to see what the problem was, Maverick saw his chance; he picked up a sharp stone and grabbed her from behind.

As soon as Riley saw that happen, he shot the warden. Chase radioed for their back-up, and Black hole soldiers came storming out of the surrounding woods. It was over in seconds. All who were left standing were Black Hole, the prisoners, and Sonja.

"Well, well Princess. It seems the tables have turned, you now belong to me." Maverick whispered into her ear.

"Sir, what do you want to do about the inmates?" Chase asked.

Maverick thought for a second, "offer them an employment opportunity… kill the rest discreetly, we can't let the others know this is a one time offer.

"And what of the Princess?" Riley had his gun trained on her.

"I am thinking about it…" after a moment, he let her go and struck her in the back of the head. The princess fell to the ground unconscious, knowing that she was in serious, serious trouble.

CHAP 6

Sonja's screams filled the air as the eighth day of her torture progressed into her eighth evening of torture. Around six o'clock, Maverick told them to lead her back to her cell. As he watched the soldiers drag Sonja's limp body out of the room, he felt a strange and fleeting twinge.

It didn't matter what they had tried, she just wouldn't break. Not only was she the greatest mind on the battlefield, but she must've trained herself to resist all forms of torture, not even drugs had an effect. He had recently resorted to 'the Chair' like Lash had used on Beki, and even though it was obviously working, Sonja just powered through everyday just using the immense strength of her will.

Maverick decided it was time to take a personal involvement in this; he followed the guards to Sonja's cell. On the way there, he knew this was a race against the clock, not only had the act of taking the princess had rallied all of Yellow Comet, and even worse, Kanbei began following Sensei's strategies as an act of desperation to save his daughter… it was up to him for Project PANDORA to succeed, and he needed to do it fast.

He stopped right in front of her cell door, and heard her voice softly whimpering. After a minute of listening intently, the words became clearer, "how much longer? How much longer? I'm waiting, Andy, I need your help. How much longer, I need your help…" As Maverick listened to Sonja for a few a while, and ever so slowly, a grin crept across his face.

He turned on his heel and ran to his quarters, coincidentally it was the room Sonja had used while Maverick had been held prisoner. He slammed the door behind him and leaned against it, catching his breath. A quiet chuckle started down in his throat, it slowly grew into a full-borne laugh, which held a menace that surprised Maverick. "It's too easy!" he yelled between laughs, "it's so, so simple!"

It took Maverick a minute to regain his composure, but after once he did he made his way to the CP in the main courtyard of the prison. Riley was working over a map of Yellow Comet; he didn't even need to look up to know who it was, "any luck Mav?"

"In a way… Riley?"

Riley looked at his commander.

"Get a hold of the Firestorm guys. We need a few friends for this one."

"What one?"

"Get me the latest Intel on the Orange Star troops."

"Maverick, what's going on?"

A completely sadistic expression lit up Maverick's face "Riley, it's high time to use a new form of interrogation. We are going to invite a certain enemy CO to come and play in my games."

"Sir…"

"What Riley?"

"I think Commander Lash has rubbed off on you."

CHAP 7

Andy had run off against orders the moment he had heard that Sonja had been captured; he had read POW statements, he knew what the Black Hole was capable of, and he wouldn't let it happen to her. He and any troops he could convince to join him rushed off as soon as they could, Nell hadn't even had time to order a halt before they were gone.

She had ordered Max to chase them down and stop Andy from doing anything foolish. Unfortunately, there were 2 issues with that plan: firstly Max's forces were at least a full two or three days behind Andy's, and the more prominent reason was that Andy was on a vendetta. He had been planning on telling Sonja how he had felt about her for the past six or so years at the next war game between the two of them, and now her very life was at risk. He couldn't pass up the 'Knight in Shining Armor' type rescue.

Little did he know that was exactly what Maverick wanted; in fact, Maverick, Riley and an entire platoon of men from Unit Firestorm were sitting in the pitch black night ocean in frogsuits with a special type of glove that Lash had made to scale the hulls of ships. Their mission was simple, take Andy alive and silence anyone in their way.

Andy was strolling along the deck outside his flagship's bridge. The night was brisk, the sky clear, and the air was salty… it was too perfect, he had seen this all before, he knew they were about to get jumped, but he was expecting subs or bombers or something of that nature. His people were looking for metal, not flesh and rubber.

The sound of a stifled yell drew his attention below him, but he didn't know he had just heard a soldier being gutted from behind. He slowly made his way down the stairway, then it hit him… the smell of blood was faint in the air. Andy switched the safety off on the Desert Eagle his father had given him when he graduated the CO Exams, he also pulled out the K-bar Sami had given him on his birthday. He ordered all the guards to be on alert… no response… just static…

*click* Andy knew that click well, that was somebody cocking a gun. He flipped the knife into a reverse grip and swung his arm backwards, catching his assailant in the throat. He saw movement near one of the deck-lights along the railing and fired a single round. Riley yelled as the bullet grazed his leg. He was however successful in ID-ing Andy. "Target sighted, under the Command Deck," he radioed before beginning to give his leg a field dressing.

It was as if the shadows themselves came to life and surrounded Andy. He managed to put two rounds into one of the shadow's chests before a pair of tranq-darts hit him. He randomly fired a few more rounds as he lost consciousness… "Damn it, sorry everyone… sor-ry."

CHAP 8

Maverick threw his two prize prisoners into the same cell, but since they were both drugged didn't know it at the time. Maverick was beaming at his latest scheme, it was fool-proof he knew it would work in an instant if someone used it against him. The thing is he was taking it a few steps further than that. He just needed a week at the very most for the rest of it to fall in place.

The rest of the next three days Maverick basically sat around writing letters and catching up on paperwork, chatting with Lash on their intelligence network, basically anything to avoid the prison. When Riley questioned him about it, he would just say, "the most beautiful flowers are those that bloom from the deepest sorrows, and one must feel the greatest joy to find that sorrow."

On the fourth day, Maverick woke up before the sun. He felt like a kid on Christmas, today was going to be the day he would open PANDORA's box. He practically danced his way to the cell block, and quietly opened the door to the star-crossed lovers. "Good morning my little puppets!"

He had expected Andy to be hostile, and actually welcomed the attacks, he knew the more Andy showed his love, the more Sonja would respond to it… and the better this would work. By the time the two were strapped into their own Chair, there were no questions at all whether or not it would work. He set them Andy's to level one and the games began.

"So Princess…" Maverick chuckled, "I'm sure you think you figured out how today is gonna work. Well, I'm sure you are close… but not quite right."

"Ask me your damn questions you bastard!" Sonja spat out at the man she regarded as Satan himself.

"Like I said, not quite how its gonna work. Today's agenda will be as follows, I will set his chair to 4 and we will all leave you two alone for a good… _long…_ while."

Sonja's eyes widened as she recalled what a mere hour on 4 did to her, "no, please."

"Sonja, what's wrong!" Andy yelled out through his pain

"Yes, my little Princess, you are going to watch, I know you won't be able to look away as the love of your life is turned into a vegetable and will probably die one slow and excruciating death."

Tears were streaming from Sonja's eyes as Maverick walked over to the control panel. "Please I'll do anything, ANYTHING! PLEASE DON'T HURT MY ANDY!"

Maverick looked up with an expression so sadistic that Adder would turn even paler, "good! Your 'anything' is to watch this boy die a most horrendous death."

Sonja screamed harder than any time during her own torture sessions as Maverick turned the knob. Andy's yells of pain, helplessness, and a sense of failing his love joined her shrieks as if it was some horrible song.

Maverick walked slowly from the room, he closed the door and his entire demeanor changed as he walked like a zombie down the hallway. Riley met him halfway, "Hey Mav?"

The commander didn't respond.

"Maverick? Are you ok?"

Something Riley could have sworn was impossible was happening… Commander Maverick Brande was crying.

"Mav?"

"Riley…" Maverick sobbed out, "don't you EVER let me do this again!"

**END**

_This is the same spot I have had this story for alittle while so far… and now that I think of it, this is a better place to end the book then the chapter I was gonna write to end it. Instead that chapter will become the first chapter of book three… COMING SOON: _**Advance War: Maverick in the Black Hole – Opening Pandora's Box** _… will this Box contain the hope for Maverick and Lash's future, or does it spell their unraveling?_


	3. Chapter 3

**BOOK 3: OPENING PANDORA'S BOX**

CHAP 1

The next morning, the entire camp was silent. Even those who had no idea what had happened the night before were completely suppressed by the atmosphere. Maverick and Riley walked down the hallway that lead to the torture chamber so slowly that it felt to them that the hallway was getting longer. After what seemed like an eternity, the stood in front of the door, and mentally steeled themselves for what they were about to see.

The handle was like ice on Riley's hand as he opened it. As the light from the hallway entered the room it seemed to divide the room in two, on half the light fell upon was Andy, who's face was contorted and his eyes dead. The dark half was the problem, each step Maverick took towards the shadowed Chair where he had forced Sonja to watch her beloved die a horrid death, felt like a step closer to a sudden freeze killing a beautiful spring day.

Maverick stood in front of the once proud and strong princess of the Yellow Comet Empire. The girl was no longer anything… she was an empty shell, catatonic, completely broken. Her eyes were devoid of soul, her breaths long-drawn, and her right eyelid kept twitching. Although it pained him to see her, this was what he had aimed for, this was the most crucial step in Project PANDORA. Now she was ready to be Rewritten.

"Riley," a very distant sounding Maverick summoned his XO

"Yes?"

"Call the transports, tell the men to prepare to move out."

Riley disappeared without a word. And the guards that had followed them took Sonja with them. Maverick turned to face Andy's body. "Well friend, it seems I won the only battle we ever fought. It's a shame really, I would have rather killed you on an actual battlefield; the death of a warrior is much more fitting to you." Stepping up to Andy, Maverick closed the lifeless eyes and made his enemy's face a natural, restful, peaceful expression. He unstrapped the Orange Star's hero and laid him on the table.

Maverick left the room and glanced over his shoulder, "I'll tell your friends where to find you. "Rest in peace, friend." Maverick turned and closed the door, glad to finally be rid of that room once and for all. As he strode thru the hall, he felt good about how he could at least have done that much for the enemy whose life he had destroyed.

But, he had other business to attend to now, so he began to ponder how he was going to Rewrite Sonja's personality. He needed her knowledge of the Yellow Comet's current defense networks and tactics easily accessible without her reverting to Sonja; he needed her mind to be as powerful as it was before, her unquestioning loyalty, and he needed her to be able to be her own person without being HER. It was for all of these reasons that Lash told him Project PANDORA was due to fail, there were too many "what if's", too many unknowns. But that is why the project's name… and Sonja's future name were both Pandora.

As Maverick reached his commander's jeep, he looked at the overcast sky, hoping that more than just 'hope' will remain when he opens his version of Pandora's Box

CHAP 2

Hawke read the reports from the five CO's in charge of the invasion of Yellow Comet with disbelief. Not only had Maverick managed to kill one of the most troublesome enemies the Black Hole had ever dealt with, he had caputered and broken another. with the loss of Sonja, the Yellow Comet would crumble like a stale cracker, and Orange Star would be significantly weakened with the loss of their shining star.

Hawke knew he should be happy about this, but it also scared him. Maverick was far more capable than he'd anticipated. not only that, Maverick had found officers more capable than most of his own. If his suspicions about Maverick were true, the young man could be the most dangerous enemy the Black Hole had ever faced.

"It's not possible that he's Raphael," Hawke tried to reason with himself. "he's personally executed so many members of the Hurricane that one of them would have said something to try and make a deal for their life."

He went back to Maverick's report and read the attached file about Project PANDORA. "I can believe he thinks he can pull this off," Hawke chuckled dismissively, "everybody that's ever been successfully Rewritten had forgotten everything they knew beforehand. and those who had been left with memories always reverted once a particularlly strong memory was triggered."

A knock came on the door, "You wanted to see me, Sir?" Lash asked as she stepped through the open door to his office.

"I just got the latest reports on the Yellow Comet Invasion," he cracked a rare smile. "I thought you'd appreciate a chance to read them before they are censored."

Lash quickly scanned the papers for Maverick's handwritting, she picked it up and began reading it. there were a few spelling mistakes, Maverick's favorite code was to take the letters that would make the word correct and line them up to form a message. today's message to Lash were, 'Rebellion' 'traitor' and 'himself command'; she gasped as she combined the messages Maverick had hidden in his other reports... 'Von Bolt' 'Bolt Guard' 'Approached me' 'Proposed I join' and now 'Rebellion' 'Traitor' 'Himself Command'

"what is it?" Hawke knew the girl understood something he missed.

"are you aware of Maverick's cryptological abilities?"

"I am... wait... he's been hiding messages in his reports?" Hawke couldn't believe he'd missed it.

"Yes, he knew all of his communiques were being monitored by a certain party. just like how this room has been bugged."

"How is it bugged? there's all sorts of electrical interference in this building, you can't even use a cell phone within a hundred yards of the building."

"it's wired through your land lines. Maverick has been trying to warn us since he left..." she pulled out a note that had all of the codes she'd decifered in his messages and handed it to Hawke, adding the three new words.

Hawke looked at the note. "if you don't mind me asking, where is the code?"

"do you honestly think somebody as smart as him would suck so bad at spelling?" she began rubbing her left wrist, the surgery allowed her to move it once again, but it was still healing and it itched like hell.

"well, it seems i was doubting the wrong underling." Hawke began looking around the room, "Where is the bug, Lash?"

She walked over to the bookshelf and pulled out a book that Sturm had given Hawke about war tactics nearly ten years ago, yanking a wire out of the wall as she did. She opened it and revealed the pages had been hollowed out and an electronic device placed inside. "He hid it here because he knew that you ignore Lord Sturm's existance ever since you killed him... I've been watching him closely since he approached Maverick before he left for Yellow Comet."

"Von Bolt, he knows we're onto him now. it seems we have THREE wars on our hands now."

CHAP 3

"What the Hell are those things!" Thorn yelled at Crank as they watched the Green Earth's latest invention flatten the defenses set up on Yellow Comet's western shores.

"I don't know..." Crank brought a pair of binoculars to his eyes and looked at the massive tanks with five huge cannons each. "but God Almighty do i want one!" He reached for his radio and clicked it, "FIRE!"

the beaches erupted in massive plumes of fire and glassing sand as artillary and rocket units began to shower the Megatanks. the only tanks to show damage were those that took direct hits. Crank gave a low whistle, "we may be in trouble here."

Thorn looked at the landers and saw a man in armor with a large handlebar mustache being saluted by men in officers' uniforms. "Javier? how did he get here so fast?"

"Who's Javier?"

"one of the Green Earth CO's from another contenent. This guy is like Riley's natural enemy, long range battles are almost useless against him."

"good, i prefer to mix it up." he reached for his radio, "bring on the Neos!"

they watched as the Neotanks with nearly double the number of the Megatanks only managed to reduce the Green Earth forces by about half.

"Ahem!" Thorn cleared his throat.

"fine," Crank passed the radio, "we'll do it your way."

"Do It!" Thorn ordered. a second later, the C4 planted deep in the sand of the beaches blew the hidden caves beneath. the resulting cave-in caused most of the sand to sink into the subterrainian caverns. The Tanks sank into the crevaces at angles too steep for the treads to get enough grip to move the immense weight in the soft sand. Thron grinned victoriously at Crank.

"yeah, yeah. you win this round." Crank turned and started walking back to the jeep they'd used to get to the battle.

"Take the CO captive!" Thorn ordered as he followed Crank

"no can do Commander!" a soldier responed, "he's already turned tail."

"very well, capture everybody you can. anybody with any info is more valuable than a bunch of dead bodies."

Crank started the jeep and began driving back to their base camp to the southeast. "you know, i wonder if 'General' Brande has given up on his project yet."

"hey, watch it!" Thorn twitched an eye at the nickname most of the soldiers had given Maverick. "He's not a general. and if the wrong ears heard you call him that there could be a problem."

"Ok, my bad. let me rephrase that, I wonder how Maverick is doing with his Pandora thing."

CHAP 4

Maverick found himself begining to agree with the Nay-sayers, Sonja just wasn't molding the way he thought she would. He came close several times but she kept snapping back to her previous personality and killed three guards with her bare hands as she tried to charge Maverick to sate her sense of vengance.

He threw himself into the chair of the commander's office he'd approriated when they'd captured the base. he began scratching his nose as he thought, "what the hell am i doing wrong? just the sight of me is enough to make her revert!"

"well maybe it really is impossible Mav," Riley said as he invited himself in.

"it's not, i've come too close for it to be impossible. theres just something missing... like a recipe, if you forget an ingredient, the cake will suck."

"are you refering to Chase's attempt at breakfast yesterday?" Riley laughed as he remembered pancakes that broke a fork.

"what's missing?" Maverick began tapping his foot furiously.

"if you keep tapping your foot like that the floor will end up with a hole."

Maverick froze, "whole? THAT'S IT!" he leapt out of the chair, knocking it to the ground. "they aren't whole!"

"what isn't whole?" Riley asked surprised by the outburst.

"the values and feelings we instill in her mind!" Maverick grabbed Riley by the arm and pulled him along with him towards the lab. "we can cram her head full of whatever we want, but without the proper mortar, the wall crumbles!"

"how did we get into construction?"

Maverick threw open the door with such force that the lab techs all jumped, "just stay with me, Riley. the wall we make is of the values and instincts and memories we create for her! the reason she can break through it all is because of the emotions her original mind has connected to its own life."

"I get it! if we created a life will stronger emotional resonance..." Riley trailed off as another thought hit him. "but, Mav... what could we possibly create with enough emotional power to cancel the memory of Andy's death?"

"has anybody ever told you they loved you? especially somebody you loved?"

"back in the military academy i had a thing with a girl during my second year, but... oh!"

"you're single, right Riley?"

"you can't mean me!" Riley refused, "i mean, she's pretty, but i need more than that to love somebody."

"that's why i brought you!" Maverick grinned with a twisted emotion. "I want to write my perfect subordinate and YOUR perfect girlfriend at the same time!

CHAP 5

"this feels so wrong, Maverick." Riley protested as Sonja was being Re-Blanked, returning to her catatonic state through drugs so they could Rewrite her again.

"Riley, do I have to order you to shut the hell up?"

"I can't go through with this!" Riley watched as Sonja's eyes went glassy and her stare became blank.

"She'll be ready in two minutes Commander," one of the lab techs reported.

"very good," Maverick answered before turning back to Riley. he put a hand on his friend's shoulder, "honestly, i don't like this any more than you."

"no, I feel much worse than you!" Riley yelled at his commander, "I am the one who'll be living a lie! and loving a woman who doesn't exist!"

Maverick sighed and hit Riley hard in the solar plexius, knocking him out. "Rewrite both their memories to match-up! here's the story this time:

"it's the same as before up until the point where we were attacked before the landing. Pandora's crush on me caused her to go on an emotional downward spiral, Riley showed up by chance to stop her from jumping into the ocean and ending her life. a very close friendship started and they came to love each other during the healing process as they were searching for me.

"Use Riley's actual memories as a template wherever you can. Insert Pandora into when they broke me out of prison, she saved me from being taken again when Sonja held a knife to my throat, killing the princess in the process. have her go on a recon mission or something during the time between then and just before we moved out from the prision, the sole survivor of an ambush that killed the rest of her platoon.

"At the time of Andy's torture and death, have Riley find her while on patrol and admit his love. she responds in kind and they share a picture perfect romantic experience..."

Maverick finally paused as he realized a possible hitch with this plan. "You guys did a FULL medical exam, right?"

"of course."

"well, i know that it is considered a crime in this country for a princess to loss her virginity before marriage... is..."

"Don't worry, Sir." the Head Tech assured him as he realised the question, "contrary to popular belief, sex isn't the only way. the vigors of military training is MORE than enough."

"ok," Maverick felt confident that the hole in his plan was filled. "then using Riley's memories as a template, work her in as becoming my new XO. because out of the goodness of my heart, I made it possible for their relationship to fall within the bounds of regulation... i'll leave the details up to you gentlemen."

"In my opinion, Commander," the Head Tech gave a thumbs-up, "this will work perfectly. i'd never thought of syncing the emotional resonance in order to cancel the effects of Break-Point Memories."

"Well Professor Hamilton, that's why they call me a genius."

CHAP 6

Von Bolt wasted no time in mounting his rebellion once he knew he was discovered. He quickly sent his armies out in every direction, every single soldier under the command of a Bolt Guard CO had been Rewritten at one point or another, they served him unquestioningly. in under a week, the Bolt Guard held at least a quarter of the Black Hole. Also taking advantage of the chaos, the Silver Hurricane came out of hiding and began wreaking their own havok. at the moment, the controlled all of the cities along the souther coast.

Hawke paced back and forth in front of his officers, stopping every once in a while to look at the map on the wall. after almost five minutes he stopped, "I've made a decision..."

"and what is that General?" Adder asked, sick of waiting.

"I'm taking the field as well."

"Are you really?" Flak asked in disbelief. Hawke didn't join the fight until it really started to look sour.

"Yes, Flak. the time is ripe, and the situation is dire."

"Aren't you going to recall our troops from Yellow Comet?" Lash asked, realizing there was a chance she'd see Maverick soon.

"You are our key stratigist. consider it for a minute, we have severly angered the Allied Nations by permanantly removing two of their best commanding officers. if we withdrew our forces from abroad, then the entire world will be knocking on our door."

Lash knew he was right, but according to the report they'd recieved two days ago, Sonja now worked for them.

"Lash and I shall be working together against the Bolt Guard. Adder, you and Flak will CRUSH the rebels. any more defeats are unacceptable, does everyone understand?"

"YESSIR!" all three of them responded.

"Adder, Flak, you are dismissed." the two men saluted and left.

"yes sir?" Lash asked

"i'm not going to recall all of the forces from Yellow Comet. but i need your honest opinion as to how many Maverick needs, and which of his officers to leave with him."

"I..." Lash wanted to leave Maverick with everything, the more he had, the sooner he could win. and with the Allied Nations having all rallied their troops, the door was closing on Maverick and his men. "I really don't think we CAN recall them if we want any of them to come home alive. The Allied Nations-"

"I'm aware of Maverick's situation and the disposition of the enemy." Hawke opened his liquor cabinet and pulled out a crystal bottle of aged scotch. he poured two short glasses and handed one to Lash. he took a sip of his drink, "Lash, my dear..."

the use of 'my dear' caught Lash off-guard.

"It's time to make an impossible decision... take a drink, you'll need it."

Lash did as she was told, it was far stronger than the cheap stuff she often had hid somewhere since she wasn't old enough to drink; but thoroughly enjoyed it anyways, much like Maverick. as a matter of fact, Maverick catching her drinking was their first conversation outside of the soldier-commander relationship. the scotch burned pleasantly on its way to her stomach, once it was there it spread warmth through her.

"feel better?" Hawke asked as a slight smile appeared on her lips.

"yes, now please go on."

"this decision will change your life entirely... you have to choose between Maverick and your country."

Lash felt the glass slip out of her hands. Hawke had been prepared for this and caught it quickly. "wha-what are you saying?"

"Lash, you are quite possibly the greatest mind in the world. you must be able to see that there is no way to keep all those troops in the Yellow Comet and still win here. the reverse is also true. what i'm asking you to do is find a way for both. Maverick is an incredible asset to this nation as are all the men across the sea. but if we bring them all back, then EVERY army in the world will be attacking us at once, we couldn't possibly win that war... Unless your magical mind can create another solution that i haven't considered."

Lash walked over to the map looking at the most up to date information they had. She loved Maverick, but she also loved the Black Hole. she'd joined the academy so she could defend her home with her outside-of-the-box thinking and if nessicary, her own hands. Maverick was the embodiment of everything she'd ever hoped for in a man, handsome, intellegence on par with hers, a gentle touch and a soul that truly loved her. was there no way to have both?

Hawke sensed the depth of her thoughts, he quickly finished his drink and pressed Lash's back into her hand before leaving the room. "I'll return in a while to check on you. I truly wish you success."

CHAP 7

Maverick watched with pride as Pandora worked with a speed and effieceny of a machine. He'd changed her look to keep her from recognizing herself as Sonja; her hair hung loosely at an ear-length bowl cut except for a one inch wide area on the right side of her face which he'd left at its normal length, it was held in place by a hairclip with a snowflake made from amethyst, which according to her memories, Riley had given to her as a symbol of her promise not to take her own life. she wore a loose black t-shirt with the Black Hole flag on its back and a black pair of hip-cut jeans ripped apart from the knees down, her legs showing through the holes. with the little part of skin you could see between her t-shirt and waistband, you could see the tatoo of her supposed unit in the hollow of her hips, a skull had a rose in its teeth with the slogan '342nd infantry makes battle beautiful' on a banner beneath it.

"Pandora," Maverick demanded her attention

She looked up from the maps she was working on, "Yes sir?"

"go ahead and take a break," Maverick smiled, "you've been at this for hours. I'm sure Riley would like to share an MRE with you."

She saluted with an eager smile, "thank you Sir!" she exited his office quickly, counting her steps as she went.

Maverick clsoed the door with a heavy feeling in his chest, "Riley was right, this is so wrong." He walked over to the maps Pandora had been working on, marking and noting the defensive plans and escape routes of the Capital. "wrong, but EXTREMELY worth the emotional torment."

Maverick laid out the other maps that he'd had his latest toy prepare, it clearly marked the key defensive areas and the troops that had been there a little over a week prior. while the strength of these defenses was sure to have changed, he still had an idea of how much value they placed on certain areas. and more importantly, he now knew the route that would prove to be a cake-walk to the capital.

"let's see..." Maverick looked at the map he had which marked the placements of his own troops, "Chase is the closest... that's perfect, his analytical abilities will give him a great advantage in a siege... if i switch Thorn's location to compliment Chase and swing Riley to cover the hole... actually, i have a better idea of who to lead the charge..." Maverick grinned with how easy it would be to take the capital. the problem was the armies closing in from all directions which would arrive soon. Green Earth was here and hand managed to get a foothold because of a brilliant manuver between Eagle and Drake. Orange Star was moving up from the south with a speed which made it obvious that vengance was on their mind. the Blue Moon units that arrived first belonged to Colin and were still fighting to land, but Grit's battleships had been sighted less than a day away. and in all honesty, Grit going all-out scared him more than any other CO, he'd seen digital recreations of the man's battles, and dispite his demeanor, Grit was brilliant beyond measure.

He realized that he'd taken too long focusing on Project PANDORA instead of moving the invasion at a greater pace. the only comfort he had, was that the project was a rousing success and he now held every missle silo in the northern half of the country. after taking the capital and seeing to it that the relics in charge were dispatched of, he'd use those to strike fear into the enemies who'd dare strike at him. Even his mistakes had insurance, Maverick liked that.

He folded the maps and placed them neatly in order on the desk, an unfortunate side-effect of the Rewrite was that Pandora was extremely OCD; her ticks included counting everything, including the kernels on the ear of corn she had last night, if something was out of order she freaked out and often shot whoever was responsible, and she for whatever reason refused to turn right, she'd just spin left until she faced right. the military psychologist explained to her that it was likely a result of the mental trauma of watching her unit being annnihilated in front of her eyes.

it was half an hour before he'd almost straightened the maps back to the way they were before. he heard counting coming down the hallway and panicked as there were still two maps he couldn't remember where they went. "don't come in yet!" he ordered Pandora, "which came first in your stack? Map of Area 56 or map of Area 78?"

"You touched my maps!" Pandora asked incredulously

"yes, I'm sorry. and i'm trying to put them back in your order so you're more comforatble."

her voice softened, "its simple really, the base equation for my order is..." She listed an equation that probably belonged in an advanced quantum mechanics class taught by Professor Hawking. it was anything but simple.

"So...?"

Pandora sighed, "78 comes first. tell me the order you have them in so i can correct you."

It turned out that Maverick's rote memorization had proven itself well enough on this day. Maverick gave a heavy sigh of relief, Pandora scared him more than Lash.

CHAP 8

Hawke was beginning to panic, it had been three days since anybody had seen Lash. he knew that she was going to do something stupid if he couldn't find her soon. he'd found a note on the table near the map that said, 'I choose Maverick.' he had a sneaking suspicion that she was already heading south, trying to steal a ship so that she could join Maverick in Yellow Comet.

"General!" A soldier burst through the office door.

"What is it corporal?"

"we're getting a transmission from the Silver Hurricane. they demand to speak with you."

"damn it, why now?" Hawke grumbled as he rose from his chair. he followed the corporal to the communications room. he looked at the screen and found the primary reason for his suspecting Maverick of being Raphael looking back. "Jido Silver, greetings."

"Hello, General." Jido changed his tone to one of toying sarcasm. "so, um, General, have you maybe... lost something lately?"

"You found her?" Hawke didn't know why, but he was thankful that he at least knew where Lash was.

"Yeah, matter of fact, we lost almost sixty people as she attacked a dock single handedly, trying to take one of our patrol boats."

Hawke chuckled, "sixty? really?"

"it's not funny Hawke!" A rage filled Jido's voice, "they all had somebody to go home to!"

"yes, of course. once this is done, send me the names of their families so i may have them informed properly."

"If you're serious, I'll do that."

"I mean it, anyone willing to die for their beliefs has my utmost respect."

"very well, i'll have a list forwarded... So, about Lash..."

"yes, indeed. what do you intend to do with her?"

"well, my second in command was intent on just giving her a boat."

"why is that? wait, did you say YOUR second in command?"

"oh," Jido's voice sombered, "you didn't know my brother died in an accident weeks ago."

"So, then Beki would be your Second?"

"correct, appearently Lash was thrashing and screaming about going to Maverick in Yellow Comet when we actually subdued her."

"not suprising," Hawke thought to himself. Then saying to Jido, "I'd very much like to have her back, she's AWOL after all."

"well, that may be somewhat difficult. you see, we gave her a boat. although i very much doubt it'll make it all the way across, despite our warning her about weather, she was quite intent on leaving."

"you bastard," Hawke got the feeling he'd soon lose one of his 'children' as his sentimental side had come to think of Maverick and Lash. "you could have stopped her! you know you could!"

"well, unlike you, General, we don't force people to do things. I merely thought you should know about the situation. goodbye."

CHAP 9

"seven... eight... nine..." Pandora picked through the macaroni salad she had with her lunch, she'd counted the noodles and celery pieces, she was currently on the pimento pieces.

"do you REALLY need to do that?" Maverick asked for the ump-teenth meal in a row.

Riley laughed, "aww, come on Mav! it makes her stand out more, i like it."

"sixteen... seventeen..." she sighed and pushed the plate away, "i can't eat it. it has a prime number."

"but you were really looking forward to it," Riley pointed out.

"oh for the love of God!" Maverick picked off one of the red pieces. "there! sixteen! divisible by 1, 2, 4, 8 and 16! now eat the damn food!"

"yes sir," she said with a look of disgust. she took a bite and put the spoon down, "it still tastes like seventeen."

"YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!" Maverick picked up his plate and moved from the commanders' table, deciding to sit with the 'normal' soldiers.

"do you actually taste numbers? is that possible?" Riley asked

"Only the prime numbers, its just wierd."

"shut up and enjoy it! that's an order!" Maverick catterwalled from several tables over

"yes sir..." Pandora grimaced as she took another bite

"i swear," Maverick complained to nobody in particular, "that girl will be the end of me."

"maybe you should Rewrite her again, get rid of the OCD that way."

"two problems with that, Prof Hamilton says that she's like this because of how many times we had to Re-blank and Rewrite. and secondly..." Maverick killed the man who'd made the suggestion with his field knife. "my orders were very clear, get permission from me before talking about that particular subject."

as the smell of blood filled the room, Pandora smiled. "i love that smell, that's why i used to like Maverick, he reeks of all the people he's killed. the blood of the innocent smells the best, though."

"so why do you love me then?" Riley asked

"to every Yin there is a Yang. that perfect balance that completes the cycle."

Riley hated how Pandora always refered to herself as Yin, the Dark, the Night, the Evil, the Unclean. "you aren't Yin, stop thinking like that. if you truly were Yin, i couldn't have fallen in love with you."

Maverick lost his appetite as he watched the two from across the room. he felt sick as he watched a lie he'd created in motion before him. he moved over to the drink dispenser, happy that the mess hall of this base hadn't been hit in the shelling before they took it over, he got a Sprite.

"uh-oh," Riley said as he spotted that.

Pandora had to spin left to follow her lover's gaze. "what's wrong."

"Mav doesn't drink clear sodas unless he's sick or extremely upset."

CHAP 10

"Those honorless children!" Kanbei bellowed as he saw the explosions of artillary destroying the western wall of his city.

"I warned you that there were too many holes in your formations." Sensei scolded his ignorant student

"but," the Emperor's eyes turned misty as he looked northward. "it was to find my precious Sonja"

"Your Highness!" A soldier came from a secret passage behind the throne on the other end of the room, "They are coming in through the secret exits! ALL OF THEM!"

"what!" Kanbei's jaw dropped. "how is that possible!"

"I can think of only one explaination," Sensei's words had an extreme weight to them, perhaps the rumors were true about the girl leading the seige.

Kanbei ripped his sword from its sheath, leveling it at his old teacher. "DON'T SAY IT! that woman cannot be my little girl! Sonja was far more pure than either of us! she was, and still is the future of the Yellow Comet!"

"put that away, boy" Sensei pushed the tip of the blade away from him.

the sound of gunfire came from the hidden passage, "Sire! they're coming!"

Sensei tightened the straps on his old parachute. Kanbei turned his sword at the throne, "then we will fight them until the end."

"no we won't!" Sensei lifted the emperor off the ground and shot out the window with his trusty old pistol. he jumped through it and threw his chute, the two men glided to the rooftops below. and landed with a thud.

"Sensei, how dare you! a Samurai NEVER runs!" he paused when he saw the old man clutching his bleeding leg. "Sensei?"

"go, my Emperor." Sensei knew he was saying his final farewell. "Find your daughter, leave this man do die on the battlefield."

Kanbei hesitated as his mentor and oldest friend told him to leave. tears were in his eyes as he bowed, "Die well, my friend."

A gunshot rang out behind Kanbei and Sensei fell to the ground. the Emperor turned to face his opponent and froze, "no!"

Pandora stood in the doorway of the access to the stairway, "you needn't worry about your daughter, Emperor Kanbei Kamina. She died by my hand as well."

"But you-" A gunshot cut the man short as his own daughter put a bullet between his eyes with the pistol he'd given her for her last birthday, the one he'd given her as a symbol that he finally agreed that she was mature enough to not need a babysitter on the battlefield.

Pandora grabbed a radio from her hip. "Pandora to Command Actual."

Maverick's voice answered, "This is Actual, go ahead Pandora."

"two old crows will no longer eat the corn," she gave the code phrase meaning that the two remaining Yellow Comet CO's were dead.

"very good work! this battle is over, you may return to base. take the rest of the day off Pandora."

"permission to remain on the battlefield."

"why?" Maverick was confused by the request, almost anybody would be trying to get away from a place of death.

"i like the smell. Blood, gunpowder, fire. i want more!"

the girl's tone frightened Maverick, but he couldn't deny her, she'd earned a reward and this was what she wanted. "very well, Pandora. enjoy yourself."

"thank you sir! Tee Hee Hee! Over and out!" she put the radio back on her hip and began looking for something to kill.

Maverick turned the transmission dish to the north, "Command Actual to Commander Cyris"

"This is Riley, go ahead Maverick."

"Sorry to say this, but I think she really is Yin."

CHAP 11

Sami's men were the first to arrive at the Capital of Yellow Comet. the battle was starting to wind down as her infantry entered the southern edge of the city. She quickly surveyed the area, she threw her arm out towards the streets, "FAN OUT! and watch the buildings and alleyways for ambushes!" She unslung her M60 from it's place over her shoulder and reached into the back seat of her command jeep, putting on a special backpack magazine she'd designed and had the Tech boys back home make for her. Sami fed the FMJ rounds into the loading chamber and pulled the charging lever.

her knees bent as she jumped out of the driver's seat, "god this thing is heavy."

"dude," Jake commented as he switched from the passenger seat to the driver's. "you are carrying some serious heat. bet you could cut a semi clean in half with all that hot love!"

she began to walk towards the street, thinking, "i doubt anybody wants my hot love today."

The Special Forces Commander was slowed by the hundred-plus pounds of ammo she was carrying, but since she'd left most of her other gear in the jeep, it wasn't too bad. if she needed to, Sami could still run. her eyes darted back and forth, from rooftop, to alleyway, to windows, nothing was escaping her gaze. not even the shoulder of a Black Hole infantry uniform trying to hide its presence on the second story, Sami took aim at it and sunk back into the alleyway, taking cover behind a dumpster and scanning for the rest of the uniform's squad.

"two," she counted in her head as she spotted others, "three, four, five, where's their spotter?" she was refering to the guy who held a vantage point that allowed him to see the entire ambush area and inform his comrades when to spring the trap. she realized he must be on the building above her and quietly opened the back door.

Sami found herself in a large kitchen, she removed her backpack and hid it and her weapon in one of the cabinets. pulling out her silenced .22 and the K-bar she kept in her boot, she moved silently up the stairs, she knew there was a guy or two in the next room, but you always start at the top. Sami put her ear to the roof access. "i saw one go back into the alley behind me. but i think she's gone. wouldn't mind getting another look at that body again though." he got his chance once Sami was sure he was done talking to his squad-mates, when she opened the door and shot him twice.

She moved quickly back down to the second floor and sneaking up behind the first guy she'd spotted, Sami slit his throat with her K-bar. she laid him gently on the ground so as not to make too much noise. she almost glided down the stairs to the first floor, Sami licked her lips as she crept up behind a pair of guys on the first floor. one of them stretched and caught her out of the corner of his eye, "HOLY SHI-"

Sami threw her K-bar and shot his partner before either of them could radio their squad-mates. unfortunately, the walls started to explode shrapnel at her as one of the others had spotted their friends fall and the bullets tore through the brick and drywall, screaming at the young woman. she ducked and covered her head as she ran back to the kitchen and retrieved her weapons from their hiding place.

she kicked out the door into the alleyway and started running away from the gunfire, she twisted to return fire when she heard footsteps persuing. bullets sprayed everywhere as chunks of brick and mortar showered the soldiers in the alley.

Jake thought he heard the higher caliber fire of Sami's M60 and pulled off his headphones, he heard another burst and running from his place over a map, jumped in and threw the jeep into gear, "Soldier! get on that gun!" he floored it and threw up a cloud of dust as he took off to find and help his friend.

Sami ducked into a shop as she exited the alley and ducked behind the counter. she looked down at her leg where a shot had grazed her, blood was trickling from the wound and darkening the olive-drab she wore. she pulled off her headband and tied it tightly over the wound. the sound of footsteps made her snatch her gun off the ground and lay prone so she could shoot around the corner of the counter.

"she's gone!" the first soldier said

"don't be stupid! she's hiding." A second said

"spread out and search. we gotta teach this bitch some manners." said the squad sergeant

"yes sarge!" the fourth answered

Sami trained her gun on the soldier closest to her, she had to wait until she had a clean shot at all of them. if luck was on her side, she could clear them all out with a single sweep.

"BEHIND THE COUNTER!" one of the soldiers spotted her before she had her shots. Sami lit him up first.

Sami shot and injured another soldier before they all got to cover. "there's three out there," she thought to herself if i could just-" a grenade landed right in front of her, "SHIT!" she swore as she reacted to throw it back. it exploded before it made it back out the window, shrapnel tore into Sami's arm and scratched her face. The Special Forces Commander screamed in pain and collapsed writhing and clutching at her arm.

Jake heard the explosion and screaming and knew he was close, he turned the corner and saw the three remaining standing up with guns trained on something inside the shop. "FIRE! FIRE!" he ordered the soldier on the mounted gun. Jake drove right for the shop, not caring about making a proper pass, the heavy caliber machine gun spewing angry death from its mouth. The Black uniformed men fell as metal tore through them.

"SAMI!" Jake yelled as he brought the jeep to a stop. he looked into the store and saw the woman making a tournequete out of her bootlace and a spent shell casing. "thats a nasty wound! we gotta get you to the medic's now!'

Sami twisted the casing again, cutting off most of the blood-flow to ther arm. "Yeah," her voice sounded spent. she tried to stand, but fell into Jake's arms. "sorry, i ruined your shirt." it was obvious that the blood-loss was making her woosy.

"Don't worry about it! Soldier, hold that turniquete tight!" he ordered as he pulled a three-point turn and sped back to the south towards their main forces.

"somebody get a cigarette out of my pocket," Sami requested semiconciously, "i need a smoke."

CHAP 12

Maverick swore, Orange Star had arrived earlier than he'd expected. most of the ambushes weren't in place yet, and his men hadn't had the time to line the sewers with enough C4 to bring the city tumbling down like he'd planned. "All units fall back! our primary mission was a success! let them have the city if they want it that bad." he turned to the screen which displayed the status of most of his men. almost all of their radio transmission status flashed green twice, signaling an acknowledgement of the order. "communications officer! confirm the units that didn't respond!"

the officer and his aide clackered away on their keyboards. the status screen highlighted a few units in yellow, including... "Command Actual to Pandora!"

nobody answered.

"Command Actual to Pandora!"

the status light flashed three times, signaling that she was currently engaging the enemy. after a minute, "Pandora to Actual, go ahead."

"we're bugging out. get your ass back to base!"

a dissapointed sigh came across the radio before a down-trodden, "yes sir."

"and make it quick! Actual out!"

Pandora stood from her latest kill, she'd carved the same ritualistic symbol in each of her victims, be them soldier or innocent. she so loved the blood of the innocent, it seemed a purer red, it was warmer, and it a stronger scent. she didn't understand why she carved the symbol into each of her kills, especially since it was the an ancient form of Yellow Comet's writting which translated to 'regret'. but then again, she didn't understand why she counted or why she couldn't turn right, it was just something she did. she licked the blood from her knife as she spun left to face right and began walking northward, glancing backwards over her left shoulder, wishing she could stay and spill the blood of some Orange Star soldiers.

"twelve... thirteen... soon," she assured herself, "fourteen... i'll kill, fifteen, them all, sixteen, and make, seventeen, Riley so proud, eighteen, of my skill, nineteen...twenty..."

CHAP 13

Maverick was waiting on the edge of the camp when Pandora arrived. she walked up to him, "nine thousand four hundred eighty two... nine thousand four hundred eight three..." she stopped and saluted with a massive smile etched on her face, "Mission accomplished, Sir!"

Maverick returned the salute, "yes, great work, Pandora."

she dropped her arm, "thank you Sir!" she felt light as a feather, she'd pleased he CO and had done it through her second favorite thing, killing.

"I have a question, though."

"what is it, Sir?"

"do you always carve 'regret' into the people you kill for fun?"

"yes, but how did you know that?"

"Chase saw you doing it and thought it was worth mentioning. it seems the more innocent the person seems, the bigger you make it... do you regret killing them?"

"no! never!" part of her wished she'd carved huge symbols of regret on the bodies of Sensei and Kanbei, even though they had been part of her duty.

"hmmm..." Maverick had a theory about this situation. he faded out of reality as the possible implications began to pass through his mind.

"Ummm, Sir?"

"huh? oh sorry, Pandora, that will be all."

Pandora saluted again, then thought of her favorite thing, "Sir, do know if Riley is around?"

"not at the moment," Maverick returned the salute, "but he'll be arriving before sunset."

"thank you sir!" she walked off quickly, "one, two, three, four..."

Maverick would normally be bothered by her counting, but he'd started to connect her ticks; the 'regret' thing was the key, he had specifically erased all of the girl's lessons on the history of Yellow Comet, there should be no reason for her to know that symbol. he was starting to see tiny bits of Sonja in the ticks: of course Sonja would regret the spilling of innocent blood, Sonja was left-handed, which explains the left-right thing, sonja was a neat-freak, and she loved everything to do with numbers.

Maverick walked to the psychologist's room, finding the man packing up his files. "Ah, Commander!" he snapped to attention.

"as you were. i need to talk to you about Pandora."

"very interesting case that girl, I'm suprised that you allowed her to remain in the army. she's way past where i would have given her a medical discharge."

Maverick closed and locked the door behind him, "are you aware of her past?"

"yes, she and i have had several discussions about the traumatic events of her childhood and the more recent ones."

"no, i mean, her REAL past?"

""i don't follow Sir." the doctor stopped packing his files to look at Maverick

"What I'm about to tell you is Level-2 Classified, only myself and those directly involved know this. but since it directly relates to one of your weekly patients, you're cleared. can i trust you with this?"

"patient confidentiality is a requirement here, Sir. you can tell me anything."

Maverick took a deep breath before explaining everything that happened to Sonja since he'd captured her. he ended with his theory about Sonja's mind causing the OCD Ticks.

"She's a Rewrite," The doctor brought his fingertips to his forehead, "how did i not spot that?"

"because she's the first successful Overwrite. she's not really a Rewrite."

"Pardon?"

"I coined the term after the procedure, we Overwrote her mind, not Rewrote it. that's why i think Sonja's still in there... and despite your patient confidentiality, i need her file and all of her future chats with you. I expect the first after your meeting with her tomorrow."

the doctor hesitated, wondering if patent confidentiality protected military projects as well. After all, even if Pandora wasn't a real person before, she certainly was now. the girl was much deeper than almost all of his other patients. Including Maverick's occasional visit which the doctor was thoroughly convinced that the man's past was a lie. "very well, Sir." the psychogist was very good at reading people, and he could tell that the Commander wasn't asking. he dug through his box and pulled out a manilla folder with 'Miles, Pandora' on the tab.

"Thank you Doctor," Maverick said as he took the file. "keep in mind, She cannot know about her being Sonja, it may trigger a Break-Point Memory."

"I understand Sir."

Maverick left as he began reading the file

"I'm gonna need a psych eval before this is all done," the doctor complained to himself after the door closed. "this Pandora thing is really gonna screw me up."

CHAP 14

"Damn them..." Sami thought as she stood next to Jake and Max saluting as Yellow Comet soldiers brought Kanbei and Sensei's bodies past in a funeral procession. after the procession passed them where the three of them, Sami pulled out her cigarettes and bit down on the tip of one she tapped out. Max, who usually berated his friend for her bad habit didn't care for once, "you guys hear the rumors?"

"about their killer?" Sami flexed her bandage covered right hand and made a fist, "I heard 'em, but i can't believe it."

"you talking about how witnesses think it was his daughter?" Jake pulled his headphones down to rest on his neck, proof of how serious he considered the conversation.

"Yeah," Max looked northwards towards the Black Hole troops. "none of them are sure, she looked pretty different from the Sonja we know... but the face was nearly identical."

"I'd be wiggin' out if thought i saw something like that," Jake said somberly. he turned and looked at the funeral as it turned the street corner, "I can't imagine what his last thoughts were if it's true."

Sami took a huge drag as she lit the tobacco. after holding it in, she released the smoke in a slow, deliberate exhale. "I don't care why she did it. but if it was Sonja, i'll kill her with my bare-hands. because of her..." She thought of Andy and the close friendship the two of them had shared over the years,"because of her... because... of..." Sami's cigarette fell from her trembling lips as she began to cry.

"Shhh..." Max pulled the smaller form to him, proving that his big arms were useful for more than the rough-and-tumble life that he loved. "We all miss him."

Jake cast his eyes to the ground. he'd only met Andy twice when he came to give guest lectures at the academy, but he'd admired the young hero of the nation.

"If she goes near my Eagle," Sami threatened into Max's chest, "she'll consider Hell a welcome haven by the time i'm finished with her."

-

Eagle sneezed for no appearant reason as he stood out front of his CP tent on top of a hill, arms crossed and eyes closed as he read the wind.

"Ahoy Eagle!" Drake called as he walked out of the tent. "you catching a cold?"

"i hope not," Eagle opened his eyes and turned to the corpulant sailor.

"maybe a pretty maiden somewhere is talking about you... do you think its Jess or Sami?"

"Drake," Eagle shook his head, "you are incorragible."

"Have you heard the news from the Orange Star Troops in the Capital?"

"Yes, i hope the winds carry their souls to where they belong."

"what about the other rumor? I was nearly keelhauled when i heard that one."

"i don't put much stock into anything that has yet to be confirmed." Eagle just didn't want to admit how scared he was if it turned out to be true.

"So then, i just need your confirmation on one other thing."

"and that is?"

"do you think it's Jess or Sami?"

Eagle gave his friend a joking push, accidentaly knocking Drake tumbling down the hill.

"MAN OVERBOARD!"

-

Sasha held the communique in her hands and reread it. "this isn't possible."

"What's the matter little lady?" Grit asked crossing the room to look at the paper in the raven haired woman's hands.

"here, i can't even say this out loud."

Grits face drained of its color, "no... there has to be a mistake... Communications! confirm this, this ain't right!"

the message appeared on the screen a few moments later, with no alterations at all.

"this is terrible! I can't accept this!" Sasha stormed out of the room, revulsed by her mind trying to imagine commiting such an act herself.

"What's the matter Sister?" Colin asked as she pushed him out of the way, him coming in blocked her leaving.

"Son, the problem is right here," Grit waved the communique.

"Let me see it please." Colin reached up

"be ready, this is rougher than a rodeo." Grit warned Colin as he passed the news along.

"NO! both of them! but... oh my God..." Colin looked like he was about to be sick. "Miss Sonja... How? Why?"

"this war just got alot messier than the others," Grit said, "but it's never been any other way."

CHAP 15

The armies closing in from the east, south and west forced Maverick to continually withdraw north. on the fifth day after conquering the Capital, he summoned all of his CO's. "Gentlemen, i feel it is about time to fight back, don't you?"

"Damn right!" Crank answered.

"I'm glad you agree, have you been building according to the plan?"

"Yes Sir!" Crank set a report on Maverick's desk.

"Great," Maverick turned to Riley, "and have they been properly dispatched?"

"Yes Sir!"

"Thorn, have you successfully hacked the enemy Intel Nets yet?"

"Orange Star's is still proving troublesome, but Blue Moon's and Green Earth's both belong to you."

"good, see to it that we own Orange Star's Net before tomorrow night."

"Yes Sir!"

"Chase, do we still hold the silos?"

"yes, even those 'reclaimed' by the Allied Nations still have at least three Firestormers each, laying low until we give the order."

"excellent! i believe we are just about ready!"

"just about?" Thorn asked, "besides the OS NET, what's left?"

"To introduce our newest CO. we will be fighting on three fronts, and i will be assigning two officers to each one. Thorn and Crank, you will be dealing with the Green Earth forces to the west, you two make an excellent balace of power and planning. that is what we need against Eagle and his cadre."

"Yessir!" they both answered

"Riley, Chase, you two will be able to spot anything that the Blue Moon can throw at you before it becomes a problem. make sure blow apart Grit's long-range units before he gets yours."

"Yessir!" they answered

"I will be teaming up with the newbie and taking on the now combined army of Yellow Comet and Orange Star... Will you come in please?"

"One... Two... Three... Four..." Pandora stood by Maverick's side with pride and attitude, "Nice to meet you! my name is Pandora Miles!"

CHAP 16

Maverick looked up with awe as he watched every missle in the northern half of the Yellow Comet launch at once. the sun was blotted out by the sheer amount of smoky exhaust belched out by the propulsion rockets.

"YAY! so much death!" Pandora clapped as she jumped up and down watching the missles streak in every direction but north. "die! die! DIE!"

"God," Maverick swore, "that girl really creeps me out."

Pandora's shouts of joy were replaced by giddy laughter as flashes of orange began to fill the horizons. "Give the order!" Pandora begged as she spun to Maverick on her right, "Say it! Say it!"

"All units," Maverick found himself grinning as he spoke into the radio, "ATTACK!"

Pandora gave a squeak of glee.

"come on," Maverick waved towards the jeep he'd driven to the top of the hill so they could watch the beginning of Operation Shamrock.

"Tell me again Sir. Seven."

"what are you counting?"

"brown rocks along the road. Eight. Why is it called Sham -Nine- rock?"

"because there are three fronts and two CO's on each front. Shamrocks have two rounds on each of their three leaves."

"Ten. Very poetic Sir."

"thank you," Maverick said as he parked in front of the CP

"I hate jeeps."

"why?" Maverick's question was answered as he watched Pandora struggling to get out to her right with the seat in the way of her spinning left. he chuckled as her face started to turn red, he walked over and lifted her out of the seat.

"i could have done it by myself Sir."

"you're welcome." Maverick didn't even look at her as they walked into the tent, "SitRep?"

"Enemy front lines were severly weakened by the missles, resistance is minimal!"

Maverick looked down at the table sized videomap which showed freindly units crushing through the enemy lines. "this is too easy," Maverick complained to Pandora, "Why'd you have to go and kill Sonja?"

"if i didn't, she'd have taken you again... by the way, i've been meaning to ask you about that Sir."

Maverick stiffened, worried that she might have noticed something wrong with her memories.

"she was such a frail looking girl, why didn't you just break her grip and escape yourself?"

"you don't always think of those things in that situation."

"Good point," Pandora smiled dreamily as she looked at the video map. "how i wish i was out there killing right now..."

"don't worry Pandora," Maverick grinned as a twisted thought passed through his mind, "if we capture any CO's, I'll let you be the one to execute them."

"YAY! You're the best Commander!"

"Commander! Unit 67 on the line! they say they've run into tanks with a longer range than theirs!"

Maverick typed in '67' in his keyboard and the map focused on a formation of MBTs on a prairie, battling with an enemy formation that kept backing out of their firing range and returning fire.

"that's gotta be OS-CO Jake's personal unit," Pandora informed Maverick.

"why do you say that?" Maverick wondered

"because his highest grades were in grassland warfare and he outfits all of his personal unit's vehicles with high-velocity-spin long barrelled guns. it reduces their punch, but dealy accurate from a greater range."

"Unit 67 be advised!" Maverick radioed, "Intelligence suggests that you are likely facing an enemy CO's elite personal unit! capture if possible!"

CHAP 17

"COME ON!" Jake yelled as he opened the hatch to his own tank and jumped out to yell at the Black Hole MBTs coming towards him slower than he moved to bait them. "STEP UP PUNKS! I'LL MOW YOU DOWN!" he closed the hatch again and tapped the driver on the shoulder, "you reload for me, dude! I'm driving!"

"Yessir!" The soldier grinned, once Jake hopped into the seat, the enemy would be toast.

"WHOO!" Jake hooked his MP3 player into the internal speakers of the tank, it began pumping out dance music, "LET'S ROCK! H-E ROUNDS!"

"Yessir!"

Jake got a hard-lock and waited for the green 'loaded' status light blinked. he pulled the trigger and watched the thru the visor as his target exploed in a ball of flame, "EAT IT! HA-HA!" he reversed the tank a little more as the Black Hole began firing again. "recon unit! these punks got any friends on the way?"

"as far as we can tell, there is only a bat-copter unit that may be on its way."

"Copters? dude, they'll totally hose this party!"

"no worries Jake," Sami's voice came over the radio, "I already have a missle unit moving up to cover you."

"Rawk." He took aim again and fired, destroying the left tread of another tank. "two for two! I'm on fire!"

"good shooting Sir!" the soldier yelled over the music as he loaded another shell

"Commander!" one of his tank driver's voices screamed through the radio loud enough to cause it to static, "get the hell outta Dodge! its a trap!"

"say again, i didn't copy." the tank to Jakes left suddenly erupted in flames as RPG-fire from the woods a quarter-click south destroyed it. "DUDE!" with incredible reaction-time, Jake made a 90-degree turn and fired at the closest enemy tank at the same time.

Jake saw that most of his unit became disabled by the first wave of RPG's and destroyed in the second wave. "Jake! Jake! Come in!"

"I'm here Sami," Jake said as he pulled the trigger and finised off the tank he'd just damaged.

"They have you ID'ed! they're moving to capture you! if you keep heading south-southeast, Max might be able to get his guys over in time to help!"

"C-copy," Jake felt genuinely scared for the first time in a long time. "don't stop loading those damn shells!"

Jake saw the helicopters on the horizon, flying through the air with all haste. they swerved to stay out of the firing range of Sami's missles as if they knew exactly where they were. he made a rough guess of where one would be by the time the shell reached it, he prayed as he pulled the trigger. the shell tore through the tail of the chopper and caused it to spin into another.

"Two for one!" Jake began to feel his luck was turning and he targeted the nearest tank and shot out it's treads. the Choppers passed over his tank and blew a deep hole in the path of the tank, Jake didn't have time to swerve and ended up stuck in the trench. "BAIL DUDE! BAIL!"

Jake and the other soldier leapt out of the hatch, drawing their sidearms as they hit the ground. "FREEZE!" one of the Black Hole infantry units had happened to be close enough to intercept.

Jake brought his pistol to bare and shot the soldier who demanded he give himself up, "AS IF! COME GET SOME!" he turned and fired, killing three other men before they could react.

the soldier beside Jake fell as the others shot him. Jake threw his sidearm at the closest soldier when its clip emptied. he knew he was short on time, he keep spinning, waiting for one of the Black Hole soldiers to attack him.

"our orders are to capture him! kick this shit out of the boy for killing our friends!" the squad sergant ordered

Jake caught the first punch and chopped his attacker in the throat before pulling the man's field knife from its holster and finishing him off. he pulled his own field knife from its place on the back of his hips. "LET'S BRING THE HOUSE DOWN!"

"ROLL!" Max was red-lining the engine on his own tank, he refused to lose another friend. "hang on Jake, i'm almost there!" He spotted the b-copters flying towards his column and grabbed his radio. "Push through! let the AA swat those flies!"

Max flinched as a bomb narrowly missed him but kept on trucking. as he crested a hill, he saw a few tanks in a loose circle all with turrets turned towards him; he also noticed Jake's tank stuck in a ditch not far from the tanks, the were obviously there to keep him from escaping. he grabbed the radio as he closed his hatch, "double-check your shots! our boy's in there somewhere! OPEN FIRE!"

CHAP 18

"Oh, this could be either very good, or very bad." Pandora said as she watched the area where Jake was being captured.

"what's that?" Maverick moved next to his partner. "oh, Max has come to play..." Maverick moved over and grabbed the radio, "Command Actual to the Renegades"

"you're using your own unit?" Pandora cocked her head

Maverick raised his eyebrows in response. "Captain Knowles of the Renegades, go ahead Actual."

"swing six clicks west now. Capture both Max and Jake."

"Acknowledged Actual, will you be joining us today?"

Maverick glanced over at Pandora, "I'll be fine by myself for a while."

"I'll catch-up shortly, you guys move now!"

"10-4. out."

"it's been a while since i actually joined the Renegades on the field."

"according to your file," Pandora smiled, "you WERE a Renegade the last time you took the field with them."

"Hey! my personel file's above your clearance!"

"oops, teehee! i guess it is!"

Maverick forcibly spun her to the right as he passed her, to which she flinched as if she'd been punched. he said, "i'll repremand you for the file thing later. The Renegade King Rides Again!"

CHAP 19

Unlike the Black Hole soldiers, Jake didn't duck and cover when his comrades began to blow up the MBTs surrounding their fight. he managed to kill two more before he ran out between two of the burning tanks, feeling the intense heat of the gasoline fires on his skin. he had to get away before the heat caused the ammo to burst.

"Sir!" Max's tank driver informed him, "I've spotted Commander Jake!"

Max threw another shell into the loading mechinism as if it were no lighter than a few pounds. "Get us between him and the enemy before they change from capture to kill!"

"Yessir!"

Jake thanked God as a wall of metal got between him and his persuers. he clambored up the back of the tank and used the pommel of his field knife to knock on the hatch. Max threw open the hatch and let Jake in. "Damn good to see you!"

"No Shit, i thought i was toast! got room up top for a machine gunner?" Jake asked as he pulled the charging lever on the gun.

"Max!" Nell's voice demanded this time, "status!"

"I've got Jake on my jack-hammer, we're about to fall back!"

"make it double-time! the Renegades have been spotted advancing on your position."

"MOVE OUT! MOVE OUT!" Max franticaly ordered as soon as he heard Renegades.

Jake got shaken as the tank reversed direction, "yo Max, who are these Renegade punks?"

"THE best tank divison in the world. they use a modified version of the Neotank, they're faster, stronger and take harder hits than anything i've figured out how to make. they've even got guns that beat copters on them."

"Commander!" one of the tank drivers near the front of the formation radioed, "Neotanks spotted to the north! cleared to engage?"

"fire at will, but DO NOT halt the retreat! we need to get behind the cover of our rockets!"

Nell and Sami watched in horror as the units marked as the Renegades bore down on Max's unit too far away for anyone to get there in time to help. "God," Sami begged, "if you exist. PLEASE save my friends!"

"Sami!" Nell scolded, "how dare you suggest that God doesn't exist!"

Sami looked down at the videomap and watched as the Renegades destroy ten of Max's units to each one they lost. "THAT is why, Nell." Sami beagn to tear up. "Those bastards are about to get another two of us. we are dropping like flies before this Maverick kid and his subordinates."

Nell's eyes looked misty as she looked down at the map, "hold on..." tapped a section of the map with a special stylus, causing it to zoom in on a single Neotank racing for the massacre of Max's troops. "the marking on the side... that can't be..."

Sami recognized Maverick's personal flag, "the rat-bastard himself is going to be personally attending the capture."

CHAP 20

"Welcome to the party, Rattlesnake!" One of the Renegades radioed as Maverick came over the ridge.

"It's damn good to be back boys!" Maverick laughed at his old callsign, "did you save me a few?"

"kinda," Capatin Knowles responded, "we saved you the big fish."

"awesome!" Maverick saw their formation closing in on a tank with Max's personal flag trying to scramble away. leaning up closer to the targeting visor he got the range and estimated his firing solution at about eighty. turing back to his support he told the man to load an old fashioned slug round. "you guys are gonna stop.... right... there!"

Jake got thrown out of his place half out of the hatch as the slug slammed into the left tread of the tank. he bounced to a rolling stop several yards away, wincing in pain as he tried unsuccessfully to push himself up. "i got rocked..." he rolled himself over in time to see another slug destroy the main cannon of Max's tank, leaving them immobile and defenseless.

"the snake hasn't lost his fangs! Hoo-ah!" another of the Renegades cheered as they surrounded the tank.

Max's driver was dead, and he had no idea where Jake was as he climbed out of the hatch. he saw his friend on the ground and picked him up as he began to run south.

Maverick popped out of the hatch with a sniper rifle, he took aim at Max's knee and fired.

the big man bellowed in pain as he fell to the ground, the round went clean through the meat of his leg.

"humph," Maverick mused as he put the rifle back in the tank. "Riley'd be laughing at me for a shot like that." Maverick climbed the rest of the way out of his tank and double-checked his sidearm. he strode the remaining hundred yards with a slow, deliberate, almost dramatic pace. the two Orange Star COs lay on the ground in front of him, struggling to move. "good evening gentlemen!"

"Who are you?" Jake asked

"My name is Maverick Brande, i am the man in charge of the Black Hole forces in the Yellow Comet."

"YOU!" Max yelled as he struggled for his own sidearm, "You killed Andy!"

Maverick pointed his gun at Jake, "don't move Maxwell Powers!"

Max froze, "you really are a bastard."

"i've been called worse," Maverick shrugged. "I'd like to invite you both to join the Black Hole, there are plenty of soldiers to go around. I obviously couldn't let you start out as COs, but Max i could have you-"

"Shove it!" Jake answered for the both of them

Maverick knelt down and grabbed the young commander by the jaw, pressing the barrel of his .22 to the boy's forehead, "I'm offering you both an opportunity to help yourselves out of alot of pain. one of your little friends took my offer not too long ago."

"so that Pandora bitch..." Max didn't finish the sentance

"Yes, Pandora Miles was once Sonja Kamina until i slowly tortured Andy to death before her eyes. it broke her to my will and she no longer remembers who she was."

Max would have ripped the man to shreds if he hadn't had his gun pressed to Jake's head.

"If i want to, i can make you both whoever i want. but i feel that would be a waste, which is why i'm asking you for join."

"I'll say it again, Shove it in your ass!"

Maverick stood, "can't say i didn't try." he fired two rounds into Jake's torso.

"NO!" Max threw himself off the ground as Maverick turned to shoot him as well. unfortunately the Black Hole CO was much quicker, Maverick emptied most of the rest of his clip into Max's chest, to make sure the man stayed down.

he walked back towards his Neotank and signaled for somebody to collect his tranquilized prisoners, "Double-time! their mommy will be here soon to save them." Maverick refered to the entire division Nell had commited to their rescue.

As he settled into the driver's seat of his Neo, Maverick began to ponder the possibilities of Overwriting both Jake and Max. the problem was that he would need to break their minds first in order to Blank them, however, the prospect of having more enemy COs under HIS command was quite a tantalizing prospect, however, he had made a promise. he reached for the radio, "Maverick to Southern Command."

"Pandora here, go ahead Commander."

"i have two toys for you to play with. their names are Maxwell Powers and Jacob Styles." **END**


	4. Chapter 4

**Book 4: When Worlds Collide**

CHAP 1

Lash heard sound of waves washing over the rocks long before she was able to open her eyes. her entire body hurt and nothing responded when she tried to move. she saw blood on the rock where her forehead had been resting.

"Maverick..." she begged silently, as if the mere thought of her lover would summon her to him. Lash laid on the rocks where she'd washed up, feeling the sun warm her between the freezing mists sprayed up by each wave.

"Maverick..." her mind played back to when he'd first been transfered to the Renegades while she was still creating the modifications that allowed them their god-like presence on the battlefield. he was green, fresh out of the academy, and far too headstrong for anything but a crack unit. he stood out from the very start: ingenuitive, skilled, fearless, a touch of crazy, and even though she'd never put much stock in looks, gorgeous.

"Maverick..." her mind jumped forward to their first one-on-one encounter outside of the normal soldier-CO relationship. Lash was sitting against the backside of the building serving as officer's quarters, a bottle of cheap vodka in her hand. she took her first hit off the bottle, then noticed a shadowed figure out of the corner of her eye. "who's there?" she demaned as she reached for the Luger tucked in the back of her waistband. "Commander, if you're gonna kill your liver at least use something better than engine degreaser." Maverick produced a small flask from inside his flak-jacket and pressed it into Lash's hand, "go ahead and keep that. you'll owe me a favor," he winked and smiled before walking off as if he saw nothing behind the building.

"Maverick..." Lash's mind played a slideshow of her misadventures with Maverick before their romance began. setting Adder's tent on fire after he got in an arguement with her. the night they both regretted when they experimented with drugs Lash had confiscated from one of her men. when she'd ask for his help on projects that required more strength than she had.

"Maverick..." Lash found herself on the night she relived so many times in her dreams. She'd asked Maverick to help her with a nut that had rusted to a cog inside one of her minicannons, causing it to misfire. "damn this sucker is stuck in there! hand me that hammer!" Lash covered her ears to block the loud metallic banging as Maverick had given up on the wrench and decided to just break it off. after a minute, the clanging stopped and two halves of a rusty nut got tossed out. After a moment, he called, "Hey Commander, check this out!" Lash joined Maverick in the maintnence crawl-space, "what's wrong?" Maverick placed a hand on her cheek, "Commander, forgive me, I can't hold back anymore." Lash was surprised when Maverick pressed his lips against hers, her pent up emotions in regard to the soldier took over and she deepened the kiss passionately, curling her fingers around the handle of the hanging worklight and clicking it off.

"Maverick!" She managed to force out, finally beginning to reclaim control of herself one part at a time. first it was just her head, after another hour or so, her hands began to tingle as the nerves began responing to her commands. not too long after that, Lash realized her legs were still in the water as she felt the icy water instead of just a dull, unidentifiable sensation. Lash curled up, trying to bring warth to her body. "Maverick," she whispered, "help me."

The shore wasn't far, but Lash wasn't sure if she could make it in her condition. the only two things she knew for sure was that she wanted to be in Maverick's loving embrace, and that the tide was beginning to come in. Lash understood two things about the rising tide; firstly, that the rocks she was on would be covered soon, and secondly that she could use the swell to make the journey to shore much easier.

Lash left the rocks and her memories behind as she struggled to gain her future.

CHAP 2

Sami didn't care that Nell had specifially forbidden her from mounting a rescue attempt, she knew where her friends were being held and she knew she only had one chance to free them. Sami donned her black thermal bodysuit, and covered her face with night-paint. she brought only her K-bar, silenced .22, and smokes... you never know, right?

waiting until a cloud blotted out the moonlight, Sami dashed across the open field surrounding the base. she pressed herself against the wall and listened for any sign of life before tossing a grappling hook and using it to scale the wall. she pulled the rope with her as she flipped over the top of the wall, wrapping it around the neck of a guard who happened to be coming out of the latrine she landed next to.

"I'm in," Sami thought to herself, "but that's always the easiest part." she dashed from shadow to shadow, looking for the main complex. Sami saw that there were two guard patrols coming that would pass closely to where she was, and she didn't have the time to backtrack to hide. at the last moment, Sami dove into the dumpster on her left, landing in the leftovers of preparing the nights meal.

once the partols past, Sami climbed out and looked down in disgust. "they'll smell me from a mile away." she quickly scanned the area around her and thanked God when she spotted a building marked women's barracks. she sneaked in quietly, careful not to wake the sleeping women. she scanned the beds for somebody near her our size, and scavenged the girl's uniform from its hanger. She stripped down and took a quick shower, biting her cheek when the pipes moaned when she first turned it on. after she was satisfied that she no longer smelled like onions and uncooked meat, she shut off the water and donned the uniform. Sami gave the uniform a quick study, gleaning everything that she could from it. "PFC Kent, 32nd mechanized infantry," she looked at the qualification pins, just in case she was asked to do something she 'wasn't' trained on. "right," She assured herself as she left the barracks.

Acting as if she were just a restless girl out for a stroll to help her sleep, Sami casually moved towards the main complex. She stopped to salute as Maverick walked out of the building talking to one of his officers about something. he responed, "As you were, private" without taking the time to look at her face, only the bar on her arm.

Sami found it nearly impossible not to turn and snap the COs neck, but the rescue took precident over revenge. she went into the building and went towards the holding area in the back of the building. she pretended to be a tourist type soldier, coming to see the high-profile prisoners, after all Max was responsible for the death of so many Black Hole soldiers that almost everybody had lost somebody at his orders. "so, that's really him?"

"Yeah, who'd he take from you?" the man on duty at the monitoring station didn't look away from his screens, "everybody brags about it."

"that's a morbid competition, isn't it?" Sami jibbed as she approached and unbuttoned the top two clasps of her uniform, planning on using her natural weapons to distract the man. she leaned forward just enough that it didn't seem intentional and smiled as he turned to face her.

The man caught himself glancing down the open section of Sami's uniform for a moment and berated himself. the momentary distraction was all the woman needed to remove the keys from his hip. then she seemed to somber a little, "both my brothers, and my father took a bullet in the arm from the jack-hammer on Max's own tank... how does that rank in the little game?"

"Don't be so upset, i'm not keeping score or anything!" the man defended his position. "and by the way," he said as he turned back to the monitors, "fix your uniform before the Commander sees you, your buttons popped loose."

Sami struck the man in the base of the skull, breaking his neck. "thank you for noticing... men, so easy to play." Sami complained as she removed his sidearm. she unlocked the door to access the cells. "anybody looking for a friend?" she asked as she moved to the first cell to release Jake.

"Sami," he asked groggily, "why?"

"because i never leave my friends out to dry."

"Trap," Jake tried to warn as the cell block door slammed shut and thudded as the re-bar security feature locked them all in with no way out.

"You know," Pandora's voice came over the loud speaker near the cell block door, "the best bait for a trap isn't what somebody wants most of all, but that which they refuse to lose the most. a gas grenade was tossed in through between the bars of Jake's cell. it slowly spilled out its knock-out gas, "Sami, did you really think that uniform fooled me?" Mavericks voice floated through the bars as the gas filled her lungs.

She recognized the smell of that particular knock-out gas. "Jake, Max, I'm sorry," Sami apologized as she pulled out her lighter. "I can't let him break us." She flipped it open as she felt her conciousness fading, "Eagle, my love, forgive me." she flicked the flint-wheel and dissapeared in a burst of orange flames, taking hers, Max's and Jake's lives in order to protect the secrets they knew.

Pandora screamed in pain as the concussion from the explosion blew out the window of the monitoring station, sending her and glass flying into the wall as flames washed over her. the impact knocked her out cold.

"Pandora?" Maverick radioed, he swore he heard the girl scream a moment ago, "Pandora come in!" He considered the fact that she'd been in the monitoring staion, right next to the explosion. fearing the worst he clicked his radio, "Medical team to the confinement area!"

CHAP 3

Nell sat sobbing in the chair of her temporary office, the only light was from the moonlight coming from the window. "Andy... Sami... Max... Jake..." She repeated their names over and over as she cried. she'd thought she was prepared to lose everything in order to free the world of injustice, but it turned out her underlings and good friends were a far heavier price than she'd expected. she'd recieved the charred dogtags of Max, Jake and Sami, along with security footage of their final moments and Sami's heroic sacrifce. Maverick had included a medal and a letter explaining that the Dark Star was the highest honor given in the Black Hole, and he'd given it to the woman who'd killed herself and her friends to protect her nation.

Rachael quietly opened the door and closed it behind her, "Hey..."

Nell looked up and tried to dry her tears, managing only to lessen the flow of tears enough to show she was paying attention. "when did you arrive?"

"on base, only fifteen minutes ago. but i arrived in the country yesterday during the battle."

"it was a massacre, not a battle."

Rachael held back her own tears and began to finger the ring on her finger, "so i've heard."

Nell saw the diamond on her sister's hand, "Oh God! I'd have never sent Jake out if you'd told me!"

Rachael's mind flooded with memories of her time together with Jake, she'd met him as his field instructor, tutoring him through war games. that relationship had eventually blossomed into romance, and right before the war broke out, Jake had put a ring on her finger. "It's..." she choked back a sob, "it's okay. He would've wanted his death to mean something..." Rachael finally couldn't hold it back and began sobbing so hard that she fell to the ground.

Nell's sisterly duties pushed her own emotions to the back of her mind as she stood up and knelt down to cradle Rachael. "just let it out," she instructed as she began to stroke the young woman's hair, "you've lost something very precious. you can't hold back your emotions."

"JAKE!" Rachael wailed, "WHY?"

Jess felt a pang of jealousy as Eagle went into a fit of rage when news reached him of Sami's death. "I'LL KILL THEM ALL!" Eagle flailed about as Drake tried to hold his friend down to prevent him from running out to his personal battle helicopter and try to take on the entire Black Hole by himself.

"Eagle!" Drake struggled to use his weight against the stronger man, "drop anchor! I'll have to put you in the brig if you don't!"

Javier stepped into the tent, trying to discover the reason for all the ruckus. "What's this then?"

"It seems that Maverick has claimed another three of us," Jess explained with a dark expression

"And that is enough to make a gentleman of Eagle's caliber to react so intensly?"

"Sami was among them," Jess didn't want to include that Eagle had prefered the infantrywoman.

"I see," Javier began tugging on one of the ends of his mustache, "the Commander did fancy her greatly."

"Was I the only one who didn't see that?" Jess asked herself as she exited the tent

"No!" Grit looked disbelievingly at the report that Colin handed him. "not only Maxie, but Sami and that rocker kid too?"

"Commander..." Colin's voice wavered

Grit looked down at the podigy who had a CO since he was ten. for the first time in his six years of knowing Colin, the teenaged boy had tears in his eyes.

"I'm scared," he clutched Grit's overcoat, "seven of the greatest Commanding Officers in the world have been cut down by Maverick. What if we're next?"

Sasha entered the room in time to hear what Colin had just said, "then you trust your sister to protect you."

"Sasha." Colin turned and hugged his elder sister

"plus," she assured, "you're alot better than you think."

"That's right, Sonny." Grit crumpled the paper in his hand, "and if it does get that bad, I won't let anybody get you either."

Maverick woke from his sleep as a cold feeling washed over him. He knew that by this point, everybody knew that their friends were dead because of him. he had the feeling that the entire world was pissed off at him right now. The phone in his quarters rang. "Brande here."

"Call from Eastern Command, Commander Sirus says its Priority-One."

"patch him through."

"roger... you're connected, Sir."

"Riley?"

"Mav! you'll never believe who one of my partols found lying on a beach!"

"who?"

CHAP 4

Maverick had never gotten prepped for anything as fast as he did after Riley informed him of Lash's arrival. In ten minutes, he was dressed and pressed. Maverick walked into the CIC of his HQ, "Lt. Kelly and Capt. Heller!"

"SIR?" Pandora's and Maverick's XO's snapped to.

"I'm headed to Commander Syris' HQ for a short while. are you capable of running things here?"

"Of course General!" Captain Heller used Maverick's nickname without realizing it.

"What was that Heller?" Maverick stepped up to the woman, "Did you just ask to be placed on the southern patrols?"

"No Lt Colonel!" She cowered, realizing her mistake. "It was a slip of the tongue, my apologies!"

"Good, I was afraid that Pandora would wake up to a new XO... Speaking of, what's her condition?"

"The blow to her head caused hemoraging, but the Corpsman told us she'd make a full recovery after rest."

"Very well." Maverick pulled out the scorched flip-lighter that had been Sami's. He ran his fingertips over the Special Forces insignia, "you didn't get my toy," he thought, "It would have been very unfortunate if you had..." Putting it back in his pocket, Maverick looked up, "Kelly!"

"Sir!" he straightened his attention.

"any changes, let me know immediately... everyone is pissed at us, so I wouldn't be suprised if THEY make the move first."

"YESSIR!"

Maverick strood out the door and into the cold night. "its barely fall... how can it be this cool?" He asked nobody in particular as his breath formed a cloud in front of him. Hopping into the passenger seat of the commander's jeep. "Private Thurgood, make for Eastern Command... i'm taking a nap on the way." Little did Maverick know that his rest would be riddled with the dark phantasms of what might lay in the future. Nor did he know of an act being commited halfway around the globe.

CHAP 5

Hawke paced back and forth, he'd lost his brain-child, thrown his greatest asset to the dogs, and underestimated the Bolt Guard. The only reason the Black Cadre were still in any postion to fight was because the Silver Hurricane hated Von Bolt more than him.

"General!" Flak came bursting into the room.

Hawke looked back at the video map which showed that the Black Cadre had been chased into the mountainous region in the northwestern corner of the country, they held less than an eighth of the nation, the Hurricane held about one fourth, and Von Bolt held the rest. "Damn that Oozium... Damn it to hell..."

"GENERAL!"

Hawke shook from his distraught thoughts, "What?"

"the rebel leaders are here to speak with you."

"What?" Hawke knew that he'd misheard Flak, or the idiot had mixed-up the info himself.

"Beki and Jido are here and demanding to speak with you."

A young woman very much resembling Lash violently pushed Flak out of the way.

"What the hell do you want?" Hawke demanded, pulling a Cougar Magnum out of his jacket.

Jido put his hand out as Beki reached for her sidearm, "General, it is more than obvious that we won't be able to hold out unless we start working together here and now."

"and?"

"I think it's time that you recall my brother and all of the troops you sent with him."

"I knew it..." Hawke lowered his head, Maverick HAD been playing him for all this time. "Once I get ahold of him, I'll kill him."

CHAP 6

Olaf sat his portly behind into his chair as he flipped on the video conference. he was greeted by the images of Nell, Eagle and Grimm, the last remaining CO in the Yellow Comet... "Well, It seems I was the last to arrive, so let's begin."

"As it stands," Nell began, "Blue Moon and Green Earth are the only nations with the officer-power to effectively mount a retalitory strike."

"As much as I hate getting left out of a scrap," Grimm sighed, "the lady's right."

"hmm..." Eagle's normally calm tone had an icy edge to it, "agreed."

"I suppose that means that you want us to beat down the gates then?" Olaf said almost accusingly. He knew that Nell was right, but his pride was something else.

"I'm all too eager," Eagle growled, "I can't wait to wrap my fingers around thet Brande character's throat and squeeze."

"Ease up son!" Grimm tried to placate the passionate man's sense of vengance

"I have to say," Nell shifted, "I'm none too comfortable with a man in your current state in command of an army."

"Worry not my lady," Javier's voice came from Eagle's line, "Not a single decision made by our General is issued without our approval until he calms down."

"I'm still perfectly sane," Eagle countered, "I'm sure you all feel this anger as well. they were your friends too."

Nobody said anything for a minute. Olaf cleared his throat, "So, what is your plan. We all want vengence, but these Black Hole commanders are on another level. From all the reports I've read, fighting this Maverick is like fighting someone with Sonja's mind, Hawke's power, and my own tenacity."

"It's even worse," Nell knew first-hand, having been the one in overall command when the Orange Star army was massacred. "He's always got a contingency plan, everything he does has a trap in it somewhere, he's one of the fastest and sharpest minds i've ever seen, and his CO's are all paired to cover each other. He's thought of everything before we even start planning."

"So, there's no plan?" Grimm asked

"The plan is to come up with a plan," Nell explained, "summon all of your CO's, we need every take on what we can do. we'll continue in a half hour."

Once everyone was assembled, the question was posed again. "Does anyone have any ideas as to some kind of tactic we could use to outwit Maverick's forces and gain an upperhand?"

Murmuring was heard through the speakers of all the phones. "Hang on y'all, gotta say something... the other night, I was on my computer and noticed that all of the date-of-last-access were all miffed up. I checked into it, and i think theres one of dem computer snakes in our info network."

"You mean a worm?" Rachael asked as she flipped open her laptop and saw the same problem, "I think its here too! I haven't accessed this file for at least two months, but it says its been opened in the past hour!"

"See? I think anything said here ought stay off the books. I reckon that's how they been on our moves like a 'coon in a trash-can."

"Cheap bastard..." Eagle murmured.

"All's fair in love and war, son" Grimm said

"Um..." Colin hesitated

"What is it boy?" Olaf asked

"They know what sort of tactics to expect from each of our armies because they've studied each of us and likely assigned CO's that could most easily defeat our individual tactics... right?"

"Sounds like what I'd do," Jess commented

"Cheers," Drake affirmed

"Well, just maybe..."

CHAP 7

"Hey," Maverick gently said as Lash finally opened her eyes. He placed his hand on her forehead.

"Maverick..." Lash sleepily cooed, "I found you..." She closed her eyes again and drifted back to sleep.

Maverick sighed, for the first time since capturing Sonja, he felt like himself. No longer haunted by the regret of killing of the CO's from the Allied Nations in such honorless ways, nor his apprehension about Overwriting Sonja to create Pandora, not even any fear about being surrounded on three sides by the armies of four nations all baying for his blood. His only thoughts were of the young woman on the hospital cot.

"Lash," Maverick gently grasped the hand that was still cold from her extreme hypothermia. He surveyed his unconcious lover, she was mostly just battered and bruised from having bounced around on the rocks near the shore she'd washed up on, although her left leg was broken. "How the hell did you end up here?"

His thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door, "Lt. Colonel?"

Maverick knew something was wrong when he saw the soldier in the door had an MP armband on, "Yes?"

The man pulled out a set of handcuffs, "I'm afraid that I have to arrest you. Orders from the top."

"General Hawke's orders?"

"Yes."

"What are the charges?" Despite the fact that he knew the likely reason was that somebody found out, he knew that it was still extremely unlikely.

"Classified. they aren't being released until your court-martial trial, or so the communique said."

Maverick didn't wait for anything else, he leapt from the third-story window and hit the ground with a jarring impact. Rolling to prevent any breaking of his bones, Maverick popped to his feet and tore through the camp.

"Red light!" Riley grabbed his arm as he tried to exit the camp, "What's the rush?"

"Hawke's put a warrant out for me," Maverick broke his friend's grip, "gotta go!"

Riley wasn't sure what was happening, but he knew that whatever it was had to be the result of a miscommunication somewhere along the lines... He'd get to the bottom of it, if Maverick wasn't at the reigns of the invasion force, the Allied Nations would sooner or later close in around them and crush them.

He stopped the MPs trying to persue Maverick as he dissappeared into the treeline, "on what grounds is the arrest being issued?"

"The details aren't able to be released until the date of his court-martial."

"Then I can't let you pass."

"these orders come from the top! Major Syrus, you will move!"

"I don't think you understand soldier!" Riley drew the hard line, "On this side of the world, Maverick is the one in charge! General Hawke sent us all here to die! Maverick's mind has not only kept us alive, but keeps a force six times our own power at bay out of fear! I can guarentee you that the soldiers loyal to him vastly outnumber those loyal to Hawke!"

"Be careful Sir! not only can we arrest you on charges of obstructing MPs, aiding a fugitive and deflecting orders, but now dissent and insinuations of mutiny."

Riley produced a Colt .45 and pointed it at the ranking MP, "I guess mutiny it is then."

"General Nell!" A soldier came sprinting down the hall towards the officer's area, "GENERAL!"

Nell looked up from her simulation data questioningly as the man turned the corner.

"The Black Hole is fighting amoungst themselves!"

"What?" she jumped up to her feet sensing a God-sent miracle in progress.

"A small faction of Homeland Loyalists are rising up agaisnt those loyal to Maverick Brande! We intercepted a transmission on the open air... the fighting escalated in all of their command bases directly after... " He held out a piece of paper of the intercepted orders from the Black Hole Commander Chase Holtz

Nell read it quietly to herself, "At 1256 hours local-time, we recieved orders from General Hawke himself to place Maverick Brande under arrest under sealed charges. Several parties not only allowed him to escape, but prevented any persuit and gunned down MPs charged with Maverick's capture. THIS IS UNNACCEPTABLE! ALL BLACK HOLE TROOPS ARE TO IGNORE ALL ORDERS FROM: Maverick Brande, Riley Syrus, Crank Maxwell, Thorn Ross, Pandora Miles and Lash Vice; AND ARE TO BRING THESE MEN AND WOMEN INTO CUSTODY FOR QUESTIONING AND APPROPRIATE DETAINMENT. -Temporary head of Black Hole Invasion Force, Chase Holtz."

"This is our chance, isn't it ma'am? They are divided and disorganized!"

Nell strode over to the radio and picked it up, "OS Command to CIC, come in Rachael!"

"What is it Sis?"

"Call in a missle strike, Jailbreak Charge!"

CHAP 8

Riley had Eastern Command locked down tight by the time the Blue Moon forces began advancing from both the Northeast and Southeast. He stood in the CIC, arms crossed and blood spattered across his uniform as the first wave of Blue Moon soldiers entered his snipers' firing range. "This isnt good..." He thought silently, as he looked down at the body of Chase Holtz, "finding the enemies hidden from sight was HIS specialty... the northern front is very dangerous for us..."

"I'm..." A haggard Lash stood panting in the doorway, wrapped in a heat-trap blanket, "assuming command!"

"Not happening!" Riley flatly denied her, "you're in no condition to even be up and about."

Dropping the blanket, Lash revealed that she wasn't wearing anything more than her undergarments and a t-shirt. She stormed over to the coffee pot on the other side of the room, and downed half of it right out of the carrafe. It may have scalded her tongue, but she felt the warmth filling her body and helping her quickly clear her head before she spun on her heels. "Did you just try to deny an order from your superior officer Major Syrus?" A dark aura seemed to eminate from the small framed woman. "Because last time I checked, Colonel outranks Major... isn't that right?"

"Yes..." Riley understood why Maverick had specifically warned him about crossing Lash.

"WHAT?"

"YES COLONEL!" He snapped crisply to attention.

Lash snapped a quick look around the room and saw that nobody was properly manning their posts as they were occupied by the arguement, "what the fuck are you all looking at? BACK TO YOUR STATIONS!"

Riley needed to counter Lash before things got out of hand, "Ranking officer or not Ma'am, it is my duty as the officer assigned to this command as well as the one who is properly informed as to our situation to remain in command."

"Smart answer... I can see why Maverick picked you..." Lash smiled before slapping Riley hard enough to cause him to turn his entire body 90 degrees. " I AM assuming command, if you don't like it, you can join him on the floor... understood?"

Riley was still reeling from the smack, "yes ma'am... perfectly understood."

"Report!" Lash said as she began using the special stylus and video map to start relaying commands to the units in the area under Eastern Command's influence.

Riley watched in amazement as he filled Lash in on the events of the past week, her mind processed at a speed that his couldn't, and her body reacted to the thoughts just as quickly. He'd seen Maverick at work before, but his way of doing things usually was to set traps before the enemy was in the area, Lash was regrouping and counterattacking at the same time. but the question was, could she do enough quickly enough?

Crank was glad he'd been working in the factory when the order to capture him and Thorn was given; he was in a perfect position to outfit his men with whatever equip-ment he deemed proper, generally big cannons and thick armor. Thorn kicked out one of the vents and jumped to the floor behind the grease-monkey-turned-officer, only to find a Spas-12 shotgun to his face before he could get to his Walter PPK.

"Who's side are you on?" Crank demanded, finger twitching on the trigger.

"Maverick's, go ahead and shoot me."

Crank huffed and threw the shotgun back onto his shoulder harness before turning back to the console and issuing production commands to the industrial powerhouse he controlled.

"Really?" Thorn said disbelievingly, "I had you pegged as a loyalist."

"Same here... take command of the troops... Green Earth is coming, and rumor has it that Eagle's out for blood. I got things down here."

The CO-less Central Command was in turmoil as neither Lt. Kelly or Capt. Heller had any real command experience, only field training. The real thing was far more intense, especially when facing an all-out attack.

"Heller! Report!"

Everyone turned to see Pandora covered with the blood of all the loyalists who'd been rude enough to wake her up. "Major! The Orange Star and Yellow Comet forces are all advancing. Reports from East and West HQs say they are under attack as well!"

"So what's the problem? we are set up for any tactic they are liable to use." she turned to the left and stepped up to the side of the table with the video map, "oh..."

"The amount of Battle Copters far outstrips any amount we've ever seen Rachael or Nell use in most of a campaign, let alone a battle. And the tactics are strange, it looks like-"

"Eagle is in command of the OS forces..." she panned the map to show the Yellow Comet forces. "...And Grit is in control of them... brilliant... Somebody get me a radio and connect me to wherever the hell Maverick is!" when nobody reacted she turned to her XO, "what?"

"you don't know?"

CHAP 9

"Thank God for a kid's mind!" Grimm mused as he looked down on his video map from the Blue Moon's northern front CP.

Jess grinned as she nodded. Maverick's traps were all set-up according to the way that the COs he'd expected on each front to think. He'd never expected them to fly the COs outside of his radar to the other HQs. "Yes, Colin really outdid himself on this one. it was such an outlandish idea that only someone who is still that young could come up with it."

"Sonja would have thought of it too..." Grimm went somber for a moment, "I pray that the rumor is false."

"We all do," Jess placed a comforting hand on the large man's shoulder. She turned back to the map and issued a few orders. "we all do..."

the BM's southern front had Rachael at the helm.

"Incoming rocket fire!"

She smiled calmly at the man issuing the report, "you forget, Javier's personal unit is leading the charge."

"Of course," the man sounded placated.

"ETA on the missiles?"

"Two minutes!"

"are they targeted exaclty like i said?"

"Yes Ma'am!"

"Wonderful, that'll open the door for the remnants of Sami's Special Forces..."

"Javier to Miss Rachael!"

"Rachael here, go ahead."

"The shelling seemes to have lessened. Have you noticed any changes in enemy troop movement?"

The color drained from Rachael's face when she realized she made the greenest mistake of her carreer, she'd not taken into account the secondary line of Black Hole units, which had completely changed their set-up. "Oh no..." She'd seen these tactics before in the research room when she was training Jake, "Javier get out of there! Lash has you set up!" She turned quickly to one of the soldiers at a console, "redirect the missles! here, here and here! NOW!"

Sasha smiled at Nell, "this seems to be going quite swimmingly, doesn't it?"

Nell nodded as she saw the BH Western Command's primary defensive line crumble, "but it's TOO easy... I mean, yes, most of the defenses were set up to counter Eagle's air forces, but surely they'd never have completely ignored the other COs."

As the two women watched the projector on the wall, black lines suddenly etched themselves in and around their troops.

"What is that?" Sasha snapped at the closest communication's officer.

"Ma'am! reports are saying the ground fell out from beneath them and formed massive trenches, impeding or halting nearly all troop movement!"

"Javier mentioned something like this happening when he first tried to make landfall. Ten full units worth of MegaTanks were destroyed because they were trapped in trenches made when C4 blew open underground caverns."

"Looks like somebody has a calling card," Sasha gritted her teeth

Maverick had happened upon a few jeeps who had been on patrol when Chase had called all the Loyalists to arms. Appearently, most of the men in the unit weren't friendly to his case. After most of them pulled their guns on him, those loyal to him had already fired. He commandeered one of the vehicles and sped off towards an area where he knew nobody would be. He found a captured Comms tower and exited the vehicle.

Pulling his .22 from his hip, he'd wished he'd brought his Uzi when he'd left his room. "Oh well," he thought, "doubt anybody's here anyways."

After doing a quick sweep of the building, Maverick proceded to the main controls of the tower. He set the transmission channel to an open-air frequency, he wanted EVERYONE to hear this. "I guess this is the moment of truth."

Clearing his throat, Maverick lifted the microphone to his mouth. "Attention everyone! This is Lt. Colonel Maverick Brande of the Black Hole Invasion Force. I'm sure you all know that General Hawke has put out for my arrest. I think it's only fair to all of you to understand why we've had to kill our own brothers-in-arms. The reason that Hawke is looking for me isn't simply something that I've done, it would be far simpler to say its who I actually am.  
"The name Maverick Brande is a farce. As is my personal history. Almost my entire identity is false. The only truth to myself is how I feel about thiose who call me by my first name, and that I am _now_ who you think I am. My past is the problem... I was once known as Raphael Silver, founder and former leader of the Silver Hurricane Rebellion. I joined in the first place to get inside deep enough to decapitate the army by assasinating all of the commanding officers in one go... but then something happened... I fell in love with a wonderful, albeit crazy, woman. At that point, I felt my values and beliefs change. I felt that protecting that woman and the beliefs that she had was more important than my own.  
"So... hate me if you will, regret following me if you must, but believe this... I am a soldier of Black Hole, whether the Black Hole is with me or not. The time has come to abandon this pointless invasion and return home so YOU can protect those you love like I wish to do. Von Bolt has turned on us and is brainwashing everyone he can to fight for him. We need to put him away before it's too late.  
"I will return home and free our people from the tyrannical reign of the wheelchair-bound, life-support dependant maniac. And after that, I will surrender myself to the people's judgement. So, I ask you to continue fighting by my side. If you want my head now, you'll find me at Central Command within the next two hours."

"No way," Riley didn't believe it.  
"Can't be," Thorn was stunned.  
"Unreal," Crank was derailed.  
Pandora stopped her counting of green pixels on the screen.  
Lash stood silently.

The Black Hole army was as close to frozen as you could be during a battle.

Grimm looked at Jess disbelievingly.  
Sasha and Nell were shocked by the revelation.  
Javier stood next to his tank with his eyebrows peaked.  
Rachael was enraged that a former ally had taken her love away.  
"What does it mean Commander?" Colin asked a perturbed Grit, who in turn looked over at Olaf who pensively tugged at his beard.  
The fact that the one who took his friends away used to be on their side blew Eagle's mind. Drake had to call a medic when his friend began to teeter on his feet.

The Allied Nations were completely at a loss, but all they knew was to continue the attack.

CHAP 10

Nobody saluted, tried to stop him, or even reacted at all when Maverick walked into the Central Command Center of the BH Invasion Force. Pandora shifted with obvious discomfort, then started counting rapidly and quietly.

Without any sign of annoyance or authority in his voice, Maverick asked, "what are you counting this time?"

"The heartbeats pounding in my head," she answered with a dark emotion in her voice.

"I guess you probably hate me now."

"I always have."

Maverick froze when he noticed that the girl wasn't using Pandora's inflection. This was one he knew from hours of torturing the princess of the Yellow Comet. "So, when did you revert?"

"When I woke up from the blow to my head," Sonja said, "you are such a sick bastard to do something so foul. Not only to me, but to the man I love."

"You mean 'loved, don't you Princess?" Maverick began twitching his fingers, keeping them limber for the quickdraw he knew was coming, "Andy's been dead for a while."

"No," She reached up and lovingly stroked the amethyst snowflake barrette. "He's been so kind to me. Enemy of my people or not, I love Riley just as much as I ever loved Andy."

"You know that most of those memories are fake."

"I do. I still have memories from both childhoods, both military careers, I even know which actually happened and which you created."

"So what happens now?"

"Well, since you are in my country, I think we can go a little traditional. You have commited so many crimes: kidnapping, torture, brainwashing, as well as crimes of concious like using a girl to kill her own family, betray her country, and kill her friends. You also warped my mind to have these ticks. However, you have volunteered yourself to justice. So, in light of that, I offer you a choice." Sonja produced the pistol she'd recieved from her father, the very one she'd killed him with. "Your choice is this: Take this pistol and commit a modern-day Hare-kiri, or I will shove my hand down your throat and rip your heart out for what you've done to those I loved as family, my friends and my first love as well."

Maverick had not expected this, he looked at the weapon, then at the hell-fires blazing in the young woman's eyes. After a moment of consideration, he slowly reached for the gun. "I did offer myself to the People..."

Sonja tensed as Maverick's fingers brushed the metal of the final gift Kanbei had ever given her.

Maverick gripped the weapon then looked Sonja in the eyes to tell her eveything was alright.

Sonja was reluctant to relenquish her pistol, but she loosed her grip and watched for any sign of treachery.

Maverick pulled back the slide to check for a chambered round, then sighed as he saw the brass inside the firing chamber. He took a deep breath and raised the barrel to his head.

Sonja gasped as the bullet was fired. Sonja suddenly felt light-headed as pain reached her from her chest. "_n-n-nande?_"

The move had been so quick that Sonja hadn't seen it, Maverick had relaxed his grip and knocked the falling gun to spin and bring the grip into his hand upside down. "But I also said that I would free the Black Hole," Maverick took the weapon with his left hand as the pinkie of his right was broken by the kick-back that was stronger than he'd anticipated.

Sonja touched the bullet-wound, and looked at her blood covered hand. She teetered on her feet before collapsing to her knees. She looked up at the cieling and reached for her hair clip, "_Riley...chan ai...ste... _" Sonja fell over and heaved her dying breath before she could finish expressing her love for Riley, her trinket held tightly in a grip she'd never release.

Maverick looked around the room at several shocked expressions. He stood straight and fixed his clothing as he cleared his throat. "Lt. Kelly."

There was no response.

"LT. KELLY!" It was obvious from his tone of voice that he was still in command.

"Yessir?"

"Sound the retreat on all fronts, tell all units to fall back and form a defensive parameter around the northern shores. We will then mount our transports and ships."

Maverick looked down at the body of the fallen princess. "leave a copy of the security footage from her final stand for her friends and YC flag for her..." He turned towards the door, "BREAK IT DOWN! WE'RE GOING HOME!"

**END**

The final battlegrounds have been decided. The lines are drawn. The stage is set. The cast is assembled. The fate of Wars World rests in the balence.  
What will be the final outcome? Who lives? Who dies?

Find out in the climactic final book **Advance Wars: Maverick in the Black Hole - Book 5: Full Circle**


	5. MESSAGE TO THE FANS: IMPORTANT!

**A personal message to fans: **

Thank you all for reading and sticking with me through the years. With my up and coming Ship Date to the United States Navy, I have made a decision. I will complete both my Metriod Fic, and then Full Circle, but after that, I will be retiring the PenName of Shirae Natrice. I will still continue my M-rated writings (they aren't sex-fics, but they are quite off-color and DO contain sex and even more darkness than anything I've written here... PM me if you really wanna enter the shadows of my mind), and I will be working on my own Original novel, Currently titled The Wanderers, it's in the final 'filler' stages (everyone said its only flaw was that it moved too quick).  
All of your views, support, and especially your reviews have shown me where I sit as far as my literary skills. It is through you all that I have been able to grow into the writer I am now... Because of this, I'm going to do something I've never done here... I will write _**A**_ requested story, as long as I know the series well enough to at least mimic the characters both inside of and outside of their normal context. It is FIRST COME FIRST SERVED, the series I can do this with are numerous, so please don't be shy... I want to thank you all with as much of my talent as I can apply, And even if I don't do your request, know that I will be putting my entire soul into the piece, especially since it will be my farewell and my thank you for your years of support.

Aiming to Inspire, Now and Forever:

Andrew Robert Yarbrough, AKA Shirae Natrice


	6. Chapter 5

**Book 5: Full Circle**A/n: There is more sweraing in this chapter than in the previous ones, as is the suggestion of less then commendible acts (you'll understand in CHAP 5), I give this an M-rating from here on, to be safe... WARNING, this one moves fast. But it IS the final campaign, so expect it!

CHAP 1

_sssssssshhhh...hhhhhhhhnnnn...ssssssssshhhh...hhhhhhnnn..._ Von Bolt looked at his maps, slightly nervous about the latest developments to the south. "so..._ hhhhnnnn_... the hero comes galloping... _sssssshhhh_... to the rescue..."

"It would seem so My Lord." Kindle agreed as she looked over the data. "Those petty fools think they will be enough to defeat our mighty forces. "

"Kindle... _sssshhh... _we cannot afford any mistakes at this point... _hhhhhnnnn..._ Don't underestimate a desperate man."

Bowing, Kindle understood that she was the one responsible for intercepting the Renegade Faction. "I will not fail you."

"_sssshhhh..._ You had best not..."

"General," Adder slithered into Hawke's office in their temporary HQ, "it looks like the traitors are rushing to our aid."

"The Renegade Faction?" Hawke had abandoned the forces in the Yellow Comet after his attempt to bring Maverick down failed. He scrolled his videomap to the southern seas. "Hhmmmmm..." Hawke crossed his arms.

"What is it Sir?"

"They may be coming for vengence."

"Their IFF transmitters still read green," Adder pointed out. He stepped over next to his leader, "they aren't even trying to hide themselves from anybody. They've got their convoys moving as fast as their support ships allow. despite how far they still are, our sonar net can pick up every ship they have already."

"Maverick may be challenging me."

"You saw the open-air he made, right General?"

"Yes."

"And the reports from our few remaining spies about Pando- I mean Sonja's death?"

"Of course."

"Then why do you question him? He's made it clear that once we've won, he'd hand himself over."

"Because, my idiotic sepintine friend... He's been lying for the past five years straight, and had us convinced then too."

Nell had a moral problem; the fires of revenge burned strongly, but Maverick had revealed himself, volunteered himself to justice, and sworn to eliminate the greatest threat the world may have ever known.

Olaf found himself caught between his pride and his duties; this Maverick character and his cadre had embarrased his troops, but he'd for the most part, left them alone and retreated before casualties were too great. His duties demanded that he remove all threats to his people, but here one threat was about to take one head-on. how could he answer this problem?

Eagle didn't give two-halves of a shit, Maverick had taken Sami. The bastard had taken the one for whom he carried a ring in his pocket, the girl that he still hadn't told his feelings. Vengence was all he cared for; damned be his duty, his friends, and his own life.

Grimm was shattered by what the Allied Nations had found at the facilities that served as the former BH Invasion Force's Central command. The young woman who had come to be known as Pandora was, beyond a doubt, Sonja Kamina, Princess and rightful ruler of the Yellow Comet Empire. the girl who'd been brainwashed into giving out the secrets of the nation, killing her mentor and her own father. The one who'd become a first class traitor anda high-ranking officer in an enemy's commanding force. Grimm was beyond a decision, leaving the Yellow Comet's Imperial Forces without anyone to give orders to them.

All the Allied Nations had managed to agree on is that the Renegade Faction needed to be followed. However, the treaty was being found as shaky due to the differences in their decided stances.

Maverick had scaled the radar tower of his new flagship, the BHS Riley Syrus. He'd named it for the CO who'd volunteered to stay behind to command the forces left behind in order to slow persuers. He had wrapped himself into the support-barring, and hung there facing south with a lit cigarette loosely held by his lips.

Maverick bit down on the filter and sucked, causing him to cough on the smoke that he still wasn't used to. Not sure if the tears in his eyes were from the gagging, or from the suffering and eventual death he'd caused his best and only real friend.

"General!" Thorn called up to him

Maverick didn't react, this whole situation had gotten far beyond anything he'd been prepared for.

"GENERAL!"

Maverick clicked his radio on, "what?"

"Radar is showing something huge approaching in the sky."

"Probably another of Eagles pathetic bombing runs."

"This is coming from the north."

CHAP 2

"What IS that?" Lash asked with adoration, clearly she wanted one.

"I don't know," Crank shifted uneasily, clearly intimidated by the image the survallence plane sent back

"SitRe-" Maverick came into the room and saw the screen, "Mother of God..."

The image of three flying fortresses was as imposing a welcoming party as the Renegade Faction could recieve.

"Alert all Carriers!" Maverick wasted no time, "Deploy all fighters immedately!"

the sound of jet engines filled the air as hundreds of aircraft made emergency air-combat take-offs.

"Foolish peasents!" a voice came from an open-air channel.

"Kindle..." Thorn recognized the voice from a few public apperances she'd made.

"You will never defeat THREE of our incredible masterpieces!"

As if on cue, the cannons of all of the fortresses focused on a different support ship of the Renegade fleet.

Maverick had to shied his eyes as the fuel contained in each of the targeted ships ignited, nearly causing him flash-blindness. "Damn you Bolt Guard bastards!"

"You could have been one of us, Raphael."

"My name is Maverick now!"

"Sure it is."

Another volley was fired from the cannons, destroying even more ships as if they were merely flies on a wall.

"ALL UNITS ATTACK!"

"Foolish boy," Kindle laughed histerically, "You'll never stop my fortresses with flies like those!"

"It's a good thing that these flies have more intelegence than the amount of hairspray you use in a year," Maverick grinned, clearly having a plan.

"What can you possibly do?" Kindle asked arrogantly.

"All missle units," Maverick calmly ordered among the chaos, "target airbourne target number two. Fighters, number three. ENGAGE!"

The missle units on the transport ships all fired from the decks. All of the fighters made a simultainious pass on their target.

Kindle laughed over the radio as the damage read minimal.

Maverick looked over to Lash who'd been monitoring the scan data. She looked up with a miniacle grin.

"Hey Kindle," Maverick said tauntingly.

"What is it you pathetic boy? Trying to beg for mercy?"

"No, just asking if you'd like to beg for forgiveness."

"HAHAHAHA! FIRE AT WILL!"

"I see."

A volley of fire hit the Riley Syrus. Maverick was thrown into a glass panel, and knocked out cold. Lash however, got up from the floor, knowing the plan. ALL UNITS CAPABLE: TARGET THE COORDINATES I TRANSMIT!" She sent them the areas that showed the most damage from the first volley.

Kindle's eyes widened as the two fortresses accompanying her own suddenly burst into flames from the next volley. "WHAT IS THIS?"

"Ma'am! the enemy seems to have found a weak point in our armor!"

"HEY BITCH!" Lash called psychotically over the radio.

"burn in the Flames, you unsophisticated child! ALL TURRETS, TARGET THE FLAGSHIP!"

Lash grinned, already having the weakness targeted, "FIRE!"

Kindle barely had time to know she was defeated before her CIC burst into flames.

"Assess losses and damages!" Lash ordered before dashing over to her lover. "Baby, wake up!"

"Uuuuuuuuuhn..."

"HEY!" Lash slapped him across the face to refocus him.

"Ow..." Maverick flicked her off, "I'm already in pain. Don't hurt me more."

"Dumbass," Lash hugged Maverick to her chest, "don't scare me like that."

"Tell me something..."

"Anything," Lash promised.

"When did you figure it out?"

"What?"

"Who I was."

Lash giggled, "I'd always suspected from the moment you began coddeling up to me. But it was so much fun that I didn't care. I confirmed it just before I got you promoted."

Maverick looked embarrassed that he'd been figured out so early on, "so when did you actually stop playing me and fall in love with me?"

"I loved you from the beginning. Enemy or not, you were my dream wrapped in a pretty package."

Maverick gave a happy scoff before passing out from the head trauma.

"MEDIC!" Lash screamed when Maverick's head lolled.

CHAP 3

Hawke looked over the new data the Renegade Faction had transmitted to all potential allies. he opened the door to the hallway and strode quickly to his Command room. "Situation Report!"

"Sir, since the Renegade Faction dropped those Flying Fortresses six hours ago the Bolt Guard's forces have been shifting heavily southward. They've left only enough to slow us down for a while."

"Have you analysed the data THEY sent us?"

"Yessir. There does appear to be some kind of lightly armored exhaust system that vents in that area."

"So, they really are here to help us..." Hawke thought aloud.

"Sir, what's our plan of action?"

Hawke smirked as he looked at the videomap. He began tracing lines with his finger. "Hahaha! Von Bolt you dim-witted ventilator! This will hardly slow MY men down! Captain!"

Another man snapped to and faced Hawke from across the room, "SIR?"

"Get me a line to Firestorm Command! It's time to lay the aces on the table!"

"_HHHHHHHNNNNNN!... _KINDLE! _... SSSSSHHHHH!... _THAT FOOLISH WOMAN! _... HHHHHHNNNN!... _NOW THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN THREATEN ME... _SSSSSHHHHH!_ ... HAS AN EASY FOOTHOLD! _...HHHHNNNN! SSSSSSHHHHH! HHHHHHNNN!_"

"Milord!" Koal pleaded, "calm yourself please!"

Von Bolt's breathing slowly became less frequent and more measured.

"It is true that Kindle failed, but she paid with her life. I will not make the same mistakes. not to mention that our real weapons lie between them and ourselves."

"_hhhhhhnnnn... _yes... _sssshhhh..._ that boy hasn't seen our power yet..."

Maverick nearly kissed the ground of his home country the moment his fleets began landing. The reason he didn't however, was the condition. Where there was once a flourishing city, were ruins, dead and empty ruins. "What happened here?"

"This is terrible," Thorn stated as he strode off the ship as well.

"Woah..." Crank gaped at what was once one of the country's population centers.

"It can't be..." Lash recognized the effects. "They can't have finished it..."

"Finished what?" Thorn turned to her.

Lash knelt down and grabbed a handful of dirt. It was dry, crumbly, and without ANY sign of life. She looked over at Maverick with fear in her eyes, "they continued our failure!"

"The Black Crystal..." Maverick remembered the SuperSoldier project that he and Lash had been working on around a year ago. The product was like an indestructible force of nature; leaping fifty feet high, lifting eight time's their weight, running at nearly fourty miles an hour without tiring for hours. The project, Codename: Prism, was scrapped because the crystals implanted into the skin of the subjects sucked all of the life-force from their host, regardless of what Lash and Maverick tried. "What have they done?"

"You mean the Prism, right?" Thorn knew of the experiments.

"Yes," Maverick gritted his teeth, "but this is far beyond that."

"With crystals large enough to do this kind of damage," Lash clutched Maverick's jacket in fear, "They could create enough Oozite to create sentience."

"I don't really know jackshit about this," Crank felt the need to cock his shotgun, "but if it scares Commander Lash then I'm worried sick."

"And so you should be!" A voice called out from an unknown source.

"KOAL!" Maverick had known the youngest member of the Bolt Guard from their Academy days. They'd even been friends once.

"Hello Maverick. Or should I call you Raphael?"

"Maverick is who I AM! SHOW YOURSELF!"

"Now, now, now. 'A respectible commander always keeps their cool'," Koal quote their old textbooks.

"And an honorable warrior never hides!" Crank challenged.

"SILENCE!"

Crank began making a gaging sound. His skin went pale, and his hair became white.

"MAVERICK!" Lash screamed, backing away frantically, "HIS FEET!"

Looking down, they saw a black gel had engulfed Crank from the knees down. "Gen...eral... hel-_gack!_" The gel had begun to trigger apoptosis within his body's cells.

"Oozite!" Maverick drew both his Uzi and his .22, although he knew that neither were high enough caliber for a sentient Oozite to notice him shooting at it.

"We call it Oozium Experiment 238," Koal's voice introduced the linchpin of the Bolt Guard's offensive power, "the only sentient Oozite life-form we could fully control."

Crank's body began to lose coheisiveness, and began to become amorphous. Lash screamed and buried her face in Maverick's shoulder as the man melted.

"Damn it," Maverick nearly cracked his front teeth from gritting them so hard. He wrapped his arm around Lash's waist as he stepped back a few more paces, allowing him to put some space between the black gel rising from the ground and his remaining officers.

"GENERAL!" one of Maverick's soldiers reported, "THEY'RE EVERYWHERE!"

"Looks like you need a hand," a familiar female voice called, "ALL UNITS OPEN FIRE!"

CHAP 4

The smoke cleared, leaving flaming puddles of black slag all around. This bought Maverick enough time to think of anything, "All units defensive positions!"

"You still alive in there Raphy?"

Only one person had ever called him that nickname, "Beki?"

"Bingo," the short-raven haired woman said, "welcome home, asshole."

"Be...ki?" Lash turned slowly as a gun-metal grey tank parked right in front of them.

The Silver Hurricane CO slowly rose from the hatch in the turret of her MBT. She removed the helmet she wore and shook out her hair before extricating herself completely from the opening.

This was the exact same girl that Lash had come home from her first day at the Academy to find standing over their father. She saw the same green eyes, the same dark hair, even the same scar across her chin from when their mother had tried to kill her as a child.

The moment Beki hit the ground, she found Lash on top of her.

The youngest of the Vice sisters screamed as she clawed at the other's face. until Thorn dragged Lash off while Maverick held Beki against the side of the tank. Once the woman stopped struggling, Maverick turned, "you okay?"

Beki nodded, then punched Maverick right in the eye. "You lying, cheating, tratorious fuck!" She grabbed him by the collar and forced him into a brief kiss.

"What the hell!" Lash roared at her sister

"He was MINE until he went to the academy five years ago!" Beki screamed at the family she'd abandoned. "Then you took him, not only in body, but mind and ideology as well!"

"That just shows that I'm not only a better person, but better in bed too!"

Maverick REALLY didn't like where this was going, "BOTH OF YOU SHUT THE HELL UP!"

Both sisters stopped barking at the other.

"This is a war! We have ENOUGH enemies with the Bolt Guard!" Maverick turned from one to the other as he scolded them like children.

"Sorry," Lash meekly whispered

"Yeah," Beki brushed herself off, "about that. They are coming down pretty hard, we gotta get you guys set up for a siege."

"All that Oozite was just a preliminary?"

"That shit's been crawling everywhere around the country. we've found that since it's mostly organic, Incindiary rounds will kill it faster than anything else."

"Oozite is completely inorganic. how does it become organic?"

Beki pointed over to where the charred shotgun.

"It absorbs organic material!"

"Bingo."

"So," Maverick grasped at the danger of Oozium 238, "its a roaming Black Crystal..."

"They are slow as hell," Beki explained, "but they kill EVERYTHING they touch."

"Then we just fly over it."

"Those flying fortresses are pretty commonplace now too."

Maverick began rifling in his jacket for his pack of smokes.

Beki gave a slight gasp when he pulled the green striped package from the pocket in his jacket. "You smoke. You remember our pormise, right?"

"That's not happening, Beki. I told you before the Silver Rebellion started," He struck the cigarette with Sami's lighter, "we're through."

"THAT'S NOT FAIR! YOU SWORE TO PUT A RING ON MY FINGER!"

Maverick took a huge drag off the cigarette and held his breath. He pulled the tobbacco stick from his lips and placed it between Beki's, which were quivering. He began to walk past her, then put a hand gently on her cheek, "I'm hardly a man you want to marry now." He took a few more stepps before reaching for his radio, "ALL HANDS! WE NEED SOME DEFENSES SET UP YESTERDAY!"

Beki didn't move for a second, then she closed her lips around the filter of the cigarette as if Maverick's kiss were laid upon it. She coughed violently from the drag she took and looked in the direction her former lover left in. Tears filled her eyes, "The day we start smoking is the day we first sleep together. I never forgot that promise either... Lash, you took so much from me it isn't funny."

CHAP 5

(A/N: this is twisted, but it proves a point)

Thorn's idea to cover the dead earth with napalm was brilliant, they waited until the Oozium was almost into the base before igniting the ground and watching it melt into a harmless slag. The problem actually came after that, when the truly terrible weapon of the Bolt Guard appeared.

"Raphy... take a good look..." Beki radioed from her tank, "this is what originally caused us to lose battles."

A circling UAV's camera gave Maverick a good look at how truly twisted Von Bolt's mind was. "Oh my god..."

"They're children," Lash pointed out the obvious, "how can they be a threat."

"That's half of it. the other part is what kind of sick bastard would shot kinds and remain sane?"

"Wait..." Thorn looked and saw that every single child was armed and in the uniform of the Bolt Guard's soldiers. He turned with a fearful disgust on his face, "you can't mean it!"

"Rewrites..." Maverick fought the urge to vomit, "Von Bolt, again I ask... What have you done?"

"General, they're..." The officer's hesitation showed his disbelief, "opening fire..."

The UAV sent pictures of children with vicious expresions overrunning lines of soldiers who found themselves unable to pull the trigger.

Maverick turned away from the screen and reluctantly walked to a different console, knowing what needed to be done. He put a key into the slot at the top of the keyboard and began typing. "BB Guidence Systems active," a digitized female voice spoke.

Lash heard that and got a cold shiver running down her spine. She turned, "what in God's name do you think you're doing?"

Maverick ignored her. "Target coordinates accepted," the computer continued.

"You can't be using my Black Bombs for THAT!" Lash yelled at him as she saw the coordinates. "I may be sadistic, but this is beyond!"

Maverick turned, looked her in the eye, then slapped Lash. He continued typing. "Launch sequence initiated... 10...9..."

"MAVERICK! THEY'RE JUST KIDS! **THEY'RE FUCKING KIDS**!"

"That's exactly why we just lost over a hundred soldiers..."

"2...1... now launching."

Maverick sent the UAV's images to eveyone he could, "I want everyone to watch this. These are no longer children, they are heartless killing machines. What must be done... must be done"

"impact in 4 seconds... 2...1..."

The screen lit up as the four Black Bombs that Maverick launched impacted where the underaged death brigade was crossing into the secondary lines of defense. The carnage that was revealed to the north when then screen cleared of light had everyone glued to their screens.

"General Brande to the Renegades."

"C-copy, General," it was clear the man was shaken by what he'd just seen.

"Go reform the Northern Front."

"Of course, sir."

Maverick walked switly from the room, but everyone was still looking at the small bodies on their screens, too busy to notice.

"Maverick!" Lash turned to scold the lover of whom she now questioned the humanity. She saw that he was no longer in the room and was suddenly concerned. "Security officer! Find General Maverick NOW!"

After quickly scanning the cameras they had set up, he pointed. "Stairwell D, heading up."

Lash knew what was on his mind. "Ross! you're in charge!"

"Aye Ma'am!" Thorn answered, "go stop him!"

Lash nodded and sprinted out the door.

CHAP 6

(Self-hurt)

"MAVERICK!" Lash screamed as she opened the door.

Maverick stood with back to the door, "It'd be so easy!"

"No!" Lash stepped slowly closer

"I'd never have to live with the nightmares of what I just did!"

"Don't!" She closed her eyes as the wind blew across them.

"It'd be over so quick!" Maverick pulled out a pocket knife and flicked it open.

"BABY! IT ISN'T WORTH IT!"

Maverick pressed the blade against the palm of his hand and pulled it. He watched the blood flow from it, "it's funny, I don't even feel that. The pain in my soul is so incredible that i don't even feel THIS!" Maverick stabbed the knife straight through his hand.

Lash gave a startled scream. "STOP IT! PLEASE STOP!"

Maverick inclined his head, "when did you get here?"

Lash gently grasped the bleeding hand. She began silently sobbing as she pressed firmly on the arm's pressure-point and raised the wound above their heads. She leaned against him, "please," she sobbed. "This isn't the answer. I'll suffer with you. Be strong for me. Be strong for our men. Be strong for the Black Hole."

"I just obliterated the future of the Black Hole. I recognized some of those children..." Maverick fumbled for his cigarettes. But once he grabbed them, the dams broke, "I KILLED CHILDREN!"

Lash shifted her weight when she felt him try to dash for the edge of the roof. She planted her heel behind his and threw him to the ground. Slh climbed on top of him, keeping his wounded hand elevated the whole time. Her sobs were gone, rage was in its place. "YOU LAY THERE AND LISTEN TO ME YOU SELF-CENTERED FUCK!" Using her free hand, Lash grabbed Maverick's chin and forced him into a kiss. "I love you! These soldiers need you! The young men and women under your command and protection are the future of the Black Hole!"

Maverick's struggling lessened.

"The future of the Black hole is determined by those who fight for it, not those who die because of it! The soldiers who fight under you, those under Hawke, and even those Silver Hurricane troops... THEY are the future of our world... And so help me, YOU will put piece of the future inside ME again if I have to tie you down in order to get pregnant!"

Maverick looked up at the woman he loved. Her eyes were filled with every emotion concievable at the moment; rage, fear, sorrow, suffering, but most of all love. "Lash..."

"Maverick, you did what you needed to. You PROTECTED the future of the Black Hole. You did what nobody else had the courage to do. YOU saved ME."

"Lash..." Tears began forming in Maverick's eyes as medics burst through the door. Lash used her hand to tell them to wait a moment.

"Do you promise not to take your life?"

"I promise."

Lash smiled as Maverick placed his hand on her stomach like he had before Hawke had forced her to get an abortion.

"I promise to put life here again... one nobody will EVER take."

CHAP 7

Koal stomped around his CIC. "Damn them! DAMN THAT MAVERICK!" He'd never expected anybody to be able to pull the trigger on their our children.

"Detecting extreme levels of stress in Unit Koal's voice," Jugger pointed out as he entered the room.

"Of course!" Koal pushed the cyborg, "not only has our psychological weapon been annihalatted, but the Allied Nations have sided with the others."

"query: why?"

"The saying goes, 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend.' I'd imagine that the moment it's over, they'd all four armies collapse in onto each other."

"The Master Unit Von Bolt is greatly displeased with your failures. Accessing recording... '_sssssshhhhh..._ Koal, I forbid you to return... _hhhhhhnnnn..._ until you bring me the... _ssssssshhhhh..._ head of one of the leaders'... playback complete.

"I've been shunned. This is unfortunate indeed. What is your purpose here?"

"To increase officer power in this battlefront."

"You were sent to aid me?"

"Jugger unit would extrapolate that as a possible meaning."

"Very well," Koal shrugged, "would you be satisfied in protecting the Black Crystal Cannon?"

"affirmative."

"Good, I'll attempt to draw them into your firing range."

"I think it's time for a field test of my mobile cannons," Maverick grinned as he saw that they were being drawn into an area they had no intel on.

"I agree, and with all the mountains in the area, maybe we should send out more footmen."

"True," Maverick said, "but I get the feeing they are sitting on us doing that."

"We gotta find out what's over there!"

"Just wait, Nell's forces are coming up from the south."

"So?" Lash crossed her arms.

"Let them walk into a trap, while we set up our cannons."

Lash smiled at the idea.

"General Brande to OS Actual."

Rachael's voice was stained darkly by her hatred of the man responsible for the death of her fiance, "copy."

"We've got this side of the mountains secured. I think it would be better tactically if you do the initial scouting of the area due to the large amount of forests in the southern area of this battle area. Until you are in position, we will be preparing one of our experimental weapons."

"Bullshit! You just would rather let OUR troops die!"

"Rachael!" Nell's voice was heard in the background, "use you're head, it is a tactiacally sound plan."

"But-"

"That probably IS why, but it doesn't make it any less the better idea."

"Copy that, Renegade Actual. We'll inform you when we see anything."

Smiling, Maverick turned the radio's frequency, "X-Division!"

"Copy General, Lt. Murphy of the Experimental Division here!"

"roll out the mob-can's"

"wonderful idea, Sir. We're on it!"

Maverick watched the window, waiting for his own crowning achievement.

"Sir!" The communications officer called out, "OS for you!"

Switching back the frequency, "Brande here."

"we can tell you they can shoot down anything with wings or rotars. we just lost six UAVs."

"That's terrible, Rachael. It's good they're unmanned craft."

Rachael swore he was taunting her, "True, we're nearly in place here. Are you prepared?"

A shadow passed over the room. Maverick snickered as he looked out the window at four downsized MiniCannons on treads. They were three times the size of a MegaTank, with one cannon that could probably fire an entire MBT out of it. "Oh, we are indeed. They aren't too fast, but they got massive range and anough punch so sink a flagship in one shot."

"What is it?" Rachael's hatred was gone from her voice, morbid curiousity in it's place, "we haven't seen anything like that."

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I present the Mobile Cannon!"

As impressive as the Mobile Cannons were, they paled in comparison to what awaited them on the other side of the mountains. It looked like a skyscraper with guns instead of windows.

"What..." Maverick said as soon as he got video feed, "the hell is that?"

Surrounding the tower was six Black Crystals. Above in the skies, was four Flying Fortresses.

"Holy... Fucking... Set-up..."

"Welcome to Hell," Koal calmly radioed, "Nell DeChance, Rachael DeChance, Lash Vice, Maverick Brande... You will all die here."

CHAP 8

Jugger was plugged into the Black Crystal Cannon, increasing it's processing capabilities. He opened fire once any enemy was in sight. The black energy was similar to a laser, and vaporized everything it touched.

Koal smiled smuggly from his mobile fortress. His plan had worked perfectly, not only would he have one head to bring his master, he'd have two.

"Lord Koal," a soldier turned from a console, "missle strike inbound."

"non-issue."

Rachael pounded her fist against the videomap, "SHIT!" Her missile strike had uselessly impacted on the armor of the Flying Fortress.

Maverick watched in horror as one of his Cannons recieved a hole clean through it as soon as it turned around the last mountain. "We're completely outclassed," he looked over at Lash for ideas.

"Lord Koal," another soldier turned, "Lord Jugger reports that the cannon needs to recharge after four more shots."

"They've already began to panic," Koal turned and strutted over to the communications, "Jugger, begin rechage now."

"confirmation: You know that we will be unable to fire for twelve minutes, correct?"

"I understand. Begin charging."

"General!" Lt Kelly reported, "Two of the Flying Fortresses are moving in this direction!"

"So," Maverick hung his head "they won't even give us time to figure something out."

"ALL UNITS!" Lash wasn't defeated yet, "PREPARE FOR AIERAL ASSUALT!"

"Sis..." Rachael nervously grasped Nell's hand.

"We'll get out of this somehow," The blonde beauty assured her younger sister.

"I do want to be with Jake again... but not before I avenge him."

"If you did that, you wouldn't get to see him."

"Ma'am! Enemy fortresses coming under fire!"

"From whom?" Nell turned

"IFF shows it's the Eagle Wing!"

"NOBODY GETS TO KILL HIM BUT ME!" Eagle yelled as he pulled a perfect barrel-roll to avoid turret-fire from the Flying Fortress he was attacking. He dropped one of his bombs as he passed one of the turrets, leaving it as a smouldering mess of scrap metal. "FIRE AT WILL! FIRE FIRE FIRE!"

CHAP 9

Koal couldn't believe the timing, it was still ten minutes until Jugger would be ready. "Shoot down those damn flies already!"

"We're trying!" an officer reported, "but their too fast! I've never seen planes move like this!"

"The Eagle Wing... It's too ironic..."

Eagle approached one of the ventilation shafts, he fired the machinegun of the fighter he piloted to punch open the grating. He grinned as the metal was ripped away, and pulled an Immullman Turn to drop a bomb into the open hole.

After a moment, a spout of fire shot from the vent. Secondary explosions told him he something important. He pulled a Flat-turn and hit his afterburners, moving to the next vent.

"THE EAGLE WING SAVED US?" Lash gaped disbelievingly. She turned to Maverick, "I thought he wanted you dead at all costs."

"I bet he's actually here for the OS," Maverick seemed to be back to his normal self, "but decided he won't let anybody else kill me."

"Boy, you know how to assure a lady," Lash elbowed him in the ribs.

"It's just part of my charm," Maverick rubbed the place she'd hit, then he looked at the wounds he'd given himself. The pain returned to the wounds as he paid attention to them. He shook his head and turned back to the screen. Mob-Can's take out that damn tower!"

Massive shells began pounding the armor of the Black Crystal Tower. While the damage was minimal, it was enough to scare the biological components of the cyborg's mind. "Alert! Alert!" Jugger yelled to nobody as he assesed the situation, "Jugger Unit is in danger!"

One of the Mobile Cannons choose and alternate target from the tower. One of the Black Crystals shattered in a blinding flash of anti-light. The living shadow corrupted the metal of the rounds about to strike the tower so badly that they shattered uselessly against the side. The anti-light faded, revealing only five remaining Crystals.

"EMERGENCY! EMERGENCY! OVERRIDING RECHARGE SAFETY PROTOCOL! ENGAGING CANNON PRIMING SEQUENCES!"

"LORD KOAL!" One of the officers sprinted over to his commanding officer.

"What? It had better be important to interrupt my contemplation of how to counter this unexpected turn of events."

"Lord Jugger is rewritting the firing sequence of the Black Crystal Cannon!"

"THAT IMIBICLE!" Koal ran over to the communications station, "Jugger you fool! complete the sequence in the pre-established order!"

"Beginning spin-up sequence!" Jugger responded.

"Redirect the shielding! He's going to fire randomly!"

"But Load Koal, what about the Eagle Wing, they know where to hit us!"

"And that cannon will vaporize us!"

"Spin-up complete! Beginning targeting!" Jugger locked onto any heat-source, including the sun itself. He also estimated the location of the enemy bases judging from their transmissions.

"GENERAL!" Lt Kelly reported, "The tower is redirecting it's cannons! looks like its IFF is down, its targeting everything it can lock onto!"

Maverick switched to an open-air frequency, "ALL UNITS! BRACE FOR HEAVY INCOMING!"

"COMMENCING FIRING!" Jugger announced as he released the charged energy into the firing chambers of every cannon.

The sky for miles shone with an unearthly purplish-hue as the most deadly weapon ever created fired at maximum firepower on all barrels. The lack of sound in the aftermath of the blast continued for minutes, even the cockroaches in the wastelands seemed afraid to move.

"ERROR! ERROR!" Jugger realized his monumental mistake too late as the tower itself began to collapse from its inability to absorb so many anti-particles at once. "ALL SYSTEMS FAILING! STRUCTURAL FAILURE DETECTED! BEGINNING CORE MEMORY SECURITY DELETION PROGRAM! ALL GLORY TO THE MASTER UNIT VON BOLT!"

Maverick had to push himself up with all his might, since part of the videomap collapsed onto him. "LASH!" He yelled for his lover.

"here..." Her voice sounded barely above a whisper, since she was buried under a pile of rubble.

He ran over and tried to dig through it. He managed only to make a hole big enough to fit his hand through, which she grasped.

"I'm fine baby," she assured him, "it fell around me."

"Thank Christ."

"You reopened your wounds."

"Don't worry about it," Maverick tightened his grip on her hand. He turned to his officers, "REPORT!"

"SIS!" Rachael screamed as she got up, seeing a slab of cement where Nell had been moments ago.

She ran for it, only to be caught by one of her aides who'd managed to keep his eyes open during the whole thing, "NO COMMANDER!"

"WHY NOT? THAT'S MY SISTER UNDER THERE!"

"No, Commander! You can't see that!"

"Nell! NELL! NEEEEELLLLL!"

CHAP 10

(A/N: yes, the paragraph-break and open quote in Colin's speech IS both proper grammer and purposful... enjoy it, it's my favorite line.)

Hawke was amazed by the progress that every battle Maverick was involved in had. It seemed like whether the young commander was the deciding factor or not, anything he was a part of desperately hurt the Bolt Guard. Everything that had driven both the Silver Hurricane and the Black Cadre back fell like dominoes before the Renegade Faction's efforts. Six Black Crystals, the Children of Death, the Black Crystal Cannon, Oozium 238, Flying Fortresses... Nothing stopped them. Hawke truely feared the monster that he had created; Maverick was the only thing to ever give him nightmares.

__

You couldn't discern where the inhaling and exhaling of Von Bolt separated he was breathing so fast and hard. Every man he made eye-contact with mysteriously fell dead.

_"SSSSSHHHHH... _It seems that I... _HHHHHNNNN..._ have to do... _SSSHHHHH..._ myself!"

He hit the joystick on his armrest to pivot his chair. He stopped turning and moved his chair forward to a huge computer.

Rachael knelt on the ground, dropping her handful of pebbles one at a time. As each one hit the ground, she muttered the name of a fallen comerade, "Sis... Jake... Andy... Max... Eagle... Sami... Kanbei... Sensei... Sonja... Sis... Jake... Andy..."

Once the last pebble fell from her hand, she noticed the tall man who had been standing behind her for several minutes.

"Rachael..." The normally jovial and carefree Grit wore a serious and focused face.

"Not gonna call me Mini-missy like you did when you were with my sister?"

Grit looked her square in the eye, silencing the attempt to lighten the mood. "It's time we draw this to a close," his tempo was slow enough that it nearly erased his accent.

Rachael stood up and brushed off her knees, "what do you mean?"

"I've spoken with Olaf, Colin and Sasha... I've decided to come back."

"You mean..." Rachael had a slightly hopeful look on her face.

"Nell gave her life for this..." Grit reached into his jacket and drew his six-shooter. Pulling a couple gunslinger moves, Grit flipped it around a few times before he turned to a building with the Bolt Guard's emblem grafittied onto it. He emptied all six shots in such rapid sequence that you only heard enough BANG for a single bullet. He holsetered the weapon with a flourish as half of the emblem crumbled to the ground, "General Grit Sharpeman, stepping up for command."

Rachael's emotions overcame her. She dove into the man's chest, "Welcome home!" she cried gratefully, "Our door's always been open to you!"

"Now, now Mini-missy!" The seriousness hadn't left Grit's voice, but the familiarity had returned. "This ain't the time for tears. This is when we put the fear in our enemies."

A charred, broken pair of goggles laid on the table. Jake leaned heavily on the wood, Jess cried in a chair near the corner of the room and Javier paced back and forth. "It's true the strength of our air force is greatly diminished without him and his Eagle Wing..." Javier began, "but we are hardly defeated. His actions broke down the final wall protecting the enemy's stronghold!"

"Aye, mate..." Drke flatly responded, "that he did. We won't waste that, but that doesn't mean we can't mourn the loss of our leader and good friend." He glanced over at Jess, "some of us took it harder than others did."

"Miss Jess," Javier strode over and put a strong hand on her shoulder. "Eagle flew the flag well! He saved our allies and caused the enemy to panic enough to destroy itself! Let us continue the charge! Your tactics should prove most effective in this final offensive!"

Jess sniffed hard. She wiped her eyes and looked on the table. Standing, she looked upwards before taking the goggles from the wood before her. "Let's make this count," She pulled the goggles over her head and down to her neck, "it's time we ended this."

Colin paced intensely up and down the room.

"Calm down Little Brother!" Sasha almost felt afraid of Colin's seriousness.

"Yes," Olaf put his hands on Colin's shoulders to keep him in one place, "take a deep breath."

Colin took a deep breath, then as he let it out, he gently pushed the portly man's hands away.

"You don't need to be so upset about him leaving," Sasha advised, "he is an Orange Star native after all."

"That's not it," Colin made a look that suggested he felt invincible, "I'm restless because I get it now."

"Get what boy?" Olaf had never seen the young man act this way in all six years of knowing him.

"I finally understand what it is to be a soldier."

Sasha and Olaf exchanged looks, "what do you mean?" they asked simultaniously.

"You've always been a strong officer," Sasha added.

"A real cut above," Olaf nodded.

"No, I mean, deep in my soul... I get it now... At first, I thought it was all about duty. I joined out of a duty to my family; I excelled in classes out of duty to my teachers; I accomplished missions out of my duty to my country. Then I started meeting everyone... I started thinking it was about friendships. I fought to protect friends among my soldiers; I fought to save my friends; I've even fought to avenge friends."But now I get it... i mean REALLY get it. And it took my hero leaving me to see it! When Commander Grit left, I first felt betrayed in our most desperate hour. Then I saw that the others were far more desperate than we are... that's when I finally understood... Being a soldier means to serve those who need you the most! It's so simple that I never saw it!"

Sasha beamed with pride once her brother's word sunk in, "I suppose... I can never call you Little Brother anymore. Colin, you have become a fine man."

"HOHOHOHO!" Olaf's bright laughter echoed, "a REAL cut above alright! Possibly even a cut above myself!" He clapped a hand against the teenager's back, "Colin, my boy, I see you becoming a General of the highest caliber. The History Books will forever sing your name!"

Thorn laid the map out.

"We really have no intel out there?" Maverick looked at the ominous hole in the data.

"No matter what we do," Lash shook her head, "anything machinical that passes this point," she indicated a yellow circle about a mile out from the blackened area, "malfunctions. Everything from UAVs to tanks to radioes. its a massive dead zone."

"...And Von Bolt is sitting in the center..." Maverick had seen this sort of thing in movies too many times.

"It's more than obviously some kind of EM interference," Thorn analyzed.

"No," Lash countered, "my UAVs are coated with a shielding strong enough to counter anything short of a nuclear EMP in close range."

"So I assume that would cancel any infared interference as well?"

"Yeah," Maverick nodded, "I helped formulate that coating. The entire EM spectrum is canceled except for a specific frequency that only she and I know."

"But..." Thorn continued, "what about a full-spectrum burst?"

"We'd have detected that from here," Lash said as if that was something a child would know.

"If it were localized-"

"We haven't even come close to figureing that out!" Lash sounded insulted

"Sweetie," Maverick said in a difussing voice, "as much as i hate to say it... Von Bolt was scientifically smarter than both of us combined. He might have figured it out."

"It'd be a Deus Ex Machina if he could," Thorn pointed out, "we'd never be able to get close!"

"From the hands of man, the machine took the place of the Almighty," Maverick waxed poetic on the delimma, "only through the blood of man shall it be undone..."

"You can't mean..." Thorn understood the cryptic thought.

Maverick began disassembling his weapons on the War Room table. He walked over to a small case. Opening it, he pulled out a gun cleaning kit.

Lash understood as well and pulled out her Lugers.

"What do you think you're doing?" Maverick demanded

"You aren't going alone."

"No I'm not, I'm calling everybody."

"Look, if I noticed the timing before you did, then there's something wrong with your head... besides the usual."

Lash started to argue, but Maverick cut her off, "THAT'S AN ORDER!"

Lash loked like she was going to cry, "yes... Sir..."

CHAP 11

Maverick waited for the three flashing lights on both sides before jimmying the vent. "Kinda wish Sami didn't have to die," He thought to himself as he squeezed into the vent. Checking to make sure his group of Firestorm'ers followed.

His mission was simple. He and any other COs who volunteered were to lead a group of their best troops into Von Bolt's installation, sabotauge anything that looked important... and kill the bastard if possible. Colin, Rachael, Javier, Thorn, Adder, Hawke, Beki and himself all broke in at the same time.

Maverick peeked through the vent. Seeing the coast was clear, he kicked open the vent. Dropping to the ground, Maverick was suddenly aware of another presence in the room. He brought his guns to bear on a series of pillars, "Show yourselves!"

Hawke and his men emerged from the shadows. Maverick responded by lifting his Uzi away, but keeping his .22 trained on Hawke. Hawke waved his men away in the opposite direction, and Maverick responded in kind. Once the room was empty, save for the two COs, they just stared at each other.

"Brande," Hawke nodded as if greeting an equal

Maverick smirked and nodded as well, "Talon."

"We'll settle this-"

"Later, I know."

Both men gave a smug huff before turning to follow after their men.

Lash, and every other CO left behind for that matter, anxiously watched their videomaps for the IFF transmitters to appear in the Deadzone. "What did he mean by timing?" Lash thought for the ump-teenth time since their arguement.

She looked over at her old colleague, Flak. The large, dimwitted man smiled, "how are you, Lash?"

"Come on," Lash scoled slightly, "this is no time for small talk."

"You know," for once, it seemed the man had a point to make, "I've missed you and Maverick both."

"Yeah," Lash admitted, "the old times would be great right now."

"If anybody turns on you, I'm ready to help."

Lash realized it wasn't just small talk with a gasp.

"I've always been your friend," Flak stood straight, showing that he was almost twice Lash's height. "Even when you teased me, you always had my back. Now it's my turn to help you two."

"Flak... I..."

"I know," Flak gave a thumbs-up, "I may be stupid, but I ain't dumb."

Guards began dissappearing all over the installation.

"_ssssshhhhhhh..._ They're here..." Von Bolt said to the hulking forms behind him

"YOUR WILL BE DONE!" the sound of whirring servos filled the air before the _clang_ of metal on the floor.

"This is too easy," Colin thought. He snuck up behind another guard and stabbed him in the back. Unlike before, the knife was stopped by metal.

The guard's head spun, as if on a swivel. "Colin Michaels, it's an honor to kill you!"

Colin leapt backwards, his jacket getting ripped by the attack of the combat cyborg. "This is much closer to what I expected..."

"COMMANDER!" one of the soldiers holding off the mechanical fiends screamed to warn Rachael as she planted bombs at the base of a massive radome on the roof of the facility.

Turning, the young woman saw that only two of her men remained. "SHIT!" she planted the detanators and set them to trigger-mode. She pulled out a clacker as the cyborgs broke through the final two men. "This is from all of us... TO ALL OF YOU!" Rachael called as she flicked her thumb twice, triggering the bombs.

All of the Deadzone suddenly came up on all of videomaps, just in time to show Rachael's IFF disappear completely.

"ALL UNITS!" Jess ordered the Green Earth through gritted teeth. She clutched the goggles around her neck for strength, "CHARGE!"

"Mini-missy..." Grit winced as he watched the green symbol fade. "I'll make sure that your sacrifce is glorified as the key to our victory..." Grit pulled his pistol from under his jacket, pointed the barrel directly at the representation of Von Bolt's stronghold and yelled, "CHARGE!"

Olaf hugged Sahsa out of the joy that Colin was still alive, "That boy will make it all happen! CHARGE!"

Jido Silver smiled for the first time in months, "There is a God... ALL UNITS! CHARGE!

Lash smiled at Flak. They both threw their arm out and issued the command at the same time "CHARGE!"

CHAP 12

Once he discovered that the cyborgs' necks were unarmored, Maverick found it quite easy to advance.

The building shook as something large became no more.

"_ssssshhhhhkkkkkk..._ General Brande! come in!"

Maverick almost jumped for joy when his radio started working again, "SitRep!"

"All armies are advancing on the facility. We are meeting extreme resistance... Back-up is unlikely within the next six hours."

"Copy that, returning to radio silence. My transponder will ping every five minutes as long as I'm alive."

"Copy General. Good hunting."

Maverick could feel the air temprature increasing with every few feet. "Either I'm near a reactor, or a fire..." Maverick said as he opened reached for a large door's control panel.

Hawke felt his wound begin to heal as he used the forbidden magic he'd learned as a child. He sucked the life-energy from his enemy and added it to his own. Once the biological components of the cyborg was dead, there was nothing to sustain the mechanical pieces, so it fell to pieces.

"This is dissappointing," Hawke commented as he threw the metallic skull away. "I expected a challenge."

A large door stood in his way. It wasn't until now that he noticed the increase in the temprature around him. "I'm near something important," He thought as he reached for the control panel.

Suddnely, everything stopped working in the Alliance's favor. The Deadzone returned, and everything they'd just sent in stopped working.

"NO!" Lash realized what happened, "he tricked us!"

"General Hawke!" Flak called into his radio, uselessly.

"DAMN! DAMN!" Grit broke the screen of his videomap when he unintentionally pistol-whipped it, "DAMN DAMN DAMN! Nell! We've failed you!"

"It can't be!" Sasha nearly screamed

"Don't let this be for real..." Olaf prayed

"BEKI! RAPH!" Jido desparetly called for the only people he had left, "COME IN!"

Jess accidentally crumpled the burnt frame of one of the goggles when she lost contact with everything and everyone inside the Deadzone. "Eagle... I've wasted your sacrifice..."

"_hhhhhhhnnnnnn... _Welcome, gentlemen..."

Maverick stepped forward, seeing someone else coming from a door to his left. After a moment, he could tell it was Hawke.

Hawke saw Maverick, but was more interested in the sound of a resperator coming from the dark part of the room.

"_shhhhhhhh..._ It seems you are all as foolish as I'd only wished you were... _hhhhhnnnnnn..._" The lights snapped on as Von Bolt began laughing maniacially.

CHAP 13

Maverick didn't need to hear the cliche gloating of the 'final boss'; he whipped his .22 out and fired it directly at Von Bolt. He couldn't believe his eyes when he literally saw the bullet slow to a stop mere feet from the delapitated man's face.

"MWAHAHAHA! ..._hhhhhhnnnn... _HAHAHAHA!... _sssshhhh... _Foolish boy!"

Hawke tried his own style of fighting, he rushed the elderly man, and reached for his throat. Suddenly, he felt like his body was being compressed and he came to a stop. He tried to take a step, but the moment he lifted his foot, Hawke was sent flying.

"USELESS!" Von Bolt taunted between breaths.

Maverick had a theory, but needed to test it... after all, only so many things can stop a bullet in mid-air, and create a repulsive force strong enough to stop and toss Hawke like a rag-doll. He pulled out his Uzi and fired it in random directions.

The bullets sprayed everywhere... literally. The shots aimed near Von Bolt came to a stop, and everyhting else flew away in random directions. Several found their way back to Maverick's body.

Hawke stood, his ear bleeding, and his head shaking. He saw the young General fall to the ground. He mind began to race, "Maverick's been defeated!" He began to search for any solution, he spotted a pipe above him. Yanking it free, Hawke now found himself armed.

Von Bolt's eyes narrowed, "_hhhhhhnnnnn..._ try anything you like..." He challenged, "_ssssshhhhhh... _Nothing will ever penetrate my barrier! _hhhhhhnnnnn..._ You can't break what you can't see!"

"Y-you can't see it..." Maverick struggled to his feet, bleeding from six fresh gunshot wounds, "but that doesn't mean we don't react to it..."

Hawke quickly caught the young man as he lost his footing. "Have you figured it out?" he whispered

"Naturally," Maverick pulled Hawke's radio from the man's hip. "I will need this."

"_sssshhhhh_... you can't call for help!"

"Who needs help?" Maverick taunted as he set the radios to the same frequency, to the thousandth of a hertz.

Hawke found his and Maverick's radio pressed into his hands.

"Throw these at him as soon as I say, keep them close together when you do."

The man nodded, understanding that this was their only chance.

"Von Bolt," Maverick began as he strode towards the man, "you have been tormenting the people of the Black Hole for far too long!"

"_hhhhhhnnnnnn..._ what would you know of torture?"

"Quite a bit, actually." Maverick pulled his .22 out again. "That's how I got you figured."

A look of fear flashed across the portion of face above the breathing-mask, "Impossible..._ sssshhhhh..._"

"I've felt quite irritated, even considering the situation, since I opened that door. Also the increase in temprature was a hint." Maverick stopped once he began to feel the resistance of the barrier. "I'm sure a man of your knowledge knows that temprature is directly relative to the VIBRATIONS of local atomic particles."

"_HHHHHHHHHNNNNN! _OH NOOO!"

"Oh... yes..." Maverick raised his pistol, "NOW!"

Hawke threw the radios, which began transmitting because of the pressure applied by the barrier. They gave feedback from being so close. Maverick fired the moment he heard the squeek.

The lights in the room flickered as blood trickled from the wounds in Von Bolt's chest. "Im..._ hhnnnn_... press... _ssshhh..._ ive..."

Hawke caught Maverick again as he fell, "what was that?"

"Extremely High Frequency Sound Waves... When highly concentrated, they form something akin to a wall. That was his magic trick in this room. His chair controlled everything else."

"You're so smart that it scares me."

"Hardly..." Maverick's vision began to fade, "this was as close to an accident as it could be..." He passed out from bloodloss.

**END**


	7. Epilougue

**EPOLOUGE**

Maverick stood on the platform, hands cuffed behind him. The crowd below him had faces of every expression.

In the wake of the Von Bolt War, the Alliance, Excepting the Renegade Faction, seemed to find a common ground... The wish to punish Raphael Silver AKA Maverick Brande for his various crimes against them. Oddly enough, this seemed to keep them off of each other long enough to form some kind of truce between them.

A man in the outfit of a Supreme Justice of the Black Hole stepped forward. He pulled out an official looking document, "Raphael Silver, or as he prefers to be called, Maverick Brande has been found guilty of the following crimes, both locally and internationally: Treason! Kidnap! Mass Murder! Rewritting!..."

Maverick remembered the wedding he celebrated while in the prision of the Allied Nations. It was oddly high-profile for a prisoner wedding. Almost every ranking officer of every nations' army showed up.

Lash had looked so beautiful in that pearl-colored dress...

"And as punishment for these crimes, he is to be hung from the neck until dead!"

Maverick looked out across the faces in the crowd, no sign of fear in his eyes.

It was shortly after the wedding that a doctor confirmed what Maverick had figured out before the final battle against Von Bolt. Lash was pregnant again.

Maverick's eyes finally came to rest on the high-profile witness's box. Through the tinted glass, he made out a few destinctive sillouettes. The rope was placed around his neck as he identified Hawke, Adder, Olaf and Flak, although he had several guesses at the other few he saw.

Lash had been garbed in the black of a mourning wife from the day Maverick's judgement had been announced. She'd pleaded with each and every person that could possibly have influence over the decision, as a group and individually. She stood, pressed against the glass, trying to be as close to her beloved as the laws would allow.

Flak had also tried to spare Maverick's life. Life imprisionment was fair in his opinion, but not this.

Hawke found himself nearly neutral in the issue. Maverick had caused so many problems, and yet he'd solved the biggest issue the world had ever faced.

Many of the Allied COs found a slight unsettling with the decision. But Justice needed to be served.

"Does the Condemned have any last words?" The Supreme Justice asked.

"Merely this: Lash, my beloved... If it's a boy, give him my real name... If it's a girl... name her Sonja..."

Maverick saw Lash's sillouette raise her hand slightly, proving her acknowledgement of the request.

"Bye-bye Baby..." Lash managed to choke out as the drums began their final roll.

As the executioner grasped the lever, Maverick screamed at the top of his lungs, "BLACK HOLE FOREV-"

The man's exclamation was cut short as the trapdoor beneath him dropped out.

Lash screamed her sobs and collapsed as her husband's sentance was carried out. She never looked away, she would stay with her beloved as long as he stayed with her.

Nobody else had the courage to look at what they had put into motion.

They all knew it was over when Lash's sobs became closer to choking hiccups. One by one they filed out of the witness's box, until only Colin and Lash remained in the room.

Part of Colin said that he should leave, but his very own definition of a soldier compelled him to stay. He gently grasped the shaking woman by the shoulders, thinking to himself, "I serve where I'm needed most..."

**END**

Okay, I need to get this out of my system... [warning, M-rated comment, highlight to see it] HOLY GOD-DAMN FUCKING SHIT IT'S DONE! [M-rating over]... I KNEW from the moment I created him that Maverick Brande would die. I created this character TO DIE... but I never imagined his stroy would become the most read/reviewed/loved/challengin piece i would ever write.

Let me tell you all something, I had never once in the five years of playing with this story thought I would be creating such an epic scene as Maverick's hanging. But this story was filled with things I never thought I could/would do... **AND ITS BECAUSE OF YOU**. ANYONE AND EVERYONE WHO HAS CONTINUED READING TO THIS POINT IS THE REASON I AM HALF AS GOOD AS I AM NOW!

I originally picked up writting as an emotional escape from an abusive step-father and a world that didn't care. however, since I started I've become a completely different person. I'm honestly owe everything to all of you...

now, onto my own comments about the story... Most of which are about the final book/epilouge...

Colin's development went much further than I planned... but it made for my greatest ending line EVER!

I didn't want to kill Riley, it was the only way i could think of having him go without Maverick killing him to defend his killing Sonja.

I killed almost every single one of the COs I like (Eagle, Andy, Max, Sonja, Jake, Rachael = faves)

Maverick's hanging is my favorite scene i've EVER written, including my own book.

Colin, OMG...

I had originally planned on Sonja killing him after faking being Pandora for the entire campaign against Von Bolt. It just felt right when I popped her earlier than that.

Beki still being obssessed with Maverick was suggested by my sister... only legit contribution she's conciously made to my writtings. Based alot of characters off her personality aspects...

Colin... OMG!

I have many of these scenes with music that I think sets well with them. (Ex. Evanescence, _My Immortal_ - Maverick's hanging... Maverick X Lash tribute song) Ask if you want more specifics.

COLIN! FTW!

This is, in my opinion... BARELY topped by my book... I deeply regret not being able to claim ownership for anything other than my own original contributions to the series.

BTW, did I mention Colin?

I wrote Book 5: Full Circle, the Epolouge, and this message, in a grand total of two sessions... my record before that was book 3: opening pandora's box, in six.

I feel like a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders now that I've FINALLY finished a project that I'd abandoned twice. Thank you all for your support and

**FOR THE LOVE OF GOD RATE THIS!**


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